This investigation explores nutritional risk among two subgroups of older adults African
American and geographically isolated elders (65 years or older). Telephone interviews were
conducted with a stratified random sample of 1,126 respondents and included a 10-item
nutritional risk appraisal. Results indicated that over one half of the sample may be considered
to be at moderate or high nutritional risk, with African American and rural elders at dispropor
tionately higher risk and rural Blacks at highest risk across a variety of indicators. The
nutritional vulnerability of these groups may prompt practitioners to design and target services
specifically for their needs, while also stimulating research to improve our understanding of the
factors that account for these differential risks.
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