What is the size of the problem in the UK?

It has been estimated that malnutrition (or “undernutrition”) affects over 3 million people in the UK.  Of these about 1.3 million are over the age of 65. Whilst most of those affected are living in the community (about 93% or 2.8 million people) BAPEN’s Nutrition Screening Week surveys (2007-11) have shown that:

• 25-34% of patients admitted to hospital are at risk of malnutrition
• 30-42% of patients admitted to care homes are at risk of malnutrition
• 18-20% of patients admitted to mental health units are at risk of malnutrition

Surveys of the 700,000 people living in sheltered housing using ‘MUST’ criteria have shown that 10-14% are at risk of malnutrition.