Cognitive difficulties may significantly interfere with the person’s ability to maintain appropriate nutrition including:
- Reduced motivation and loss of ability to initiate, plan and organise the actions required for eating/drinking.
- Reduced attention to the process of eating and drinking thus decreasing intake.
- Agitation and distress may make it difficult for the person to sit and eat and drink.
- Impaired insight and awareness of the need to eat/drink may reduce intake.
- Memory impairments may cause the person may forget to eat and drink. Alternatively the person may mistakenly believe that they have already had food/drink.
- Visual and perceptual impairments may affect the person’s ability to actively seek out food/drink, see food on their plate, recognise food/liquid, manage the eating and drinking process and appreciate the food/drink.
