Nutritional and Metabolic Health in Older Adults: Screening, Intervention, and Community Implementation

As the global population ages, the nutritional and metabolic health of older adults has become an increasingly urgent public health challenge. Conditions such as vitamin D and B12 deficiency, suboptimal hydration, and thyroid dysfunction are highly prevalent in older populations yet frequently go undetected in community and primary care settings. A key reason for this is that screening criteria, reference ranges, and intervention strategies have largely been developed and validated in younger adults, limiting their applicability to older populations with distinct physiological profiles. The consequences of missed identification are substantial: micronutrient deficiencies and metabolic imbalances contribute to functional decline, cognitive impairment, increased hospitalisation rates, and reduced quality of life at a population level. Translating the growing body of nutritional and metabolic evidence into scalable, equitable public health action for older adults remains a critical unmet need.This Research Topic aims to advance public health knowledge and practice by consolidating evidence on nutritional and metabolic health in older adults, with an emphasis on population-level screening, community-based intervention, and real-world implementation. It seeks to bridge the gap between the existing evidence base and the realities of community and primary care settings, where access to specialist input is often limited and prevention must be integrated into routine practice.This Research Topic welcomes submissions on:• Nutritional deficiency screening in older populations: assessment and management of vitamin D, B12, and hydration status in community and public health settings, including point-of-care and low-cost screening approaches for resource-limited settings.• Nutritional and metabolic interactions in aging: how conditions such as thyroid dysfunction interact with micronutrient status, and the implications for population-level nutritional screening and prevention.• Translating nutritional evidence into practice: guidance on dietary and hydration interventions and their integration within primary care and community health programs.• Barriers to nutritional screening and intervention in diverse older adult populations: challenges in equitable access, implementation, and uptake across public health settings. Topic editors: Irene Hamrick, Gita Vita Soraya, Joana Araújo Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83172/nutritional-and-metabolic-health-in-older-adults-screening-intervention-and-community-implementation