Effect of tempeh-date biscuits supplementation for undernourished older adults

Underweight older adults problem had adverse effect on their health status and productivity. It will lead to chronic diseases and psychological illness, even death. The study aimed to investigate the effect of tempeh-date biscuits consumption on the nutritional status of undernourished older adults. Non-randomized pre-post two group intervention involved 70 research participants aged over 60 years. The intervention group was given tempeh-date biscuits and the control group was given modified cassava flour tempeh-date biscuits for 4 weeks. Nutrition knowledge, anthropometric, hemoglobin (Hb), and albumin were collected at pre-post-intervention. Mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of the intervention group was increased by slightly more 0.9 points than the control group (0.5 points). There was significant difference in the increase mean BMI at both groups (p = 0.000). Mean Hb change of the control group was a little bigger (0.1 points) than the intervention group. The increased mean albumin was the same in both groups (0.2 points). There were significant differences of increased Hb and albumin in the intervention group at post study (p = 0.024, p = 0.000, respectively). Tempeh-date biscuit and mocaf date biscuit are an alternative supplementary food for undernourished older adults.