Malnutrition is widespread among older persons and represents a serious health problem. Its prevalence varies widely in different population subgroups and is generally increasing with decreasing health and functional status and increasing dependency and disability. Whereas in the community less than 10% of independently living older persons are affected, the prevalence increases up to 50% or even more in nursing-home residents, geriatric patients in acute-care hospitals and patients in geriatric rehabilitation (Kaiser et al. 2010; Cereda 2012). However, prevalence rates vary widely due to the use of different malnutrition definitions and assessments methods. Interestingly, virtually independent of the setting, a large proportion of older people
