Nutrition is well-recognized as a necessary component of educational programs for physicians. This is to be valued in that of all factors affecting health in the United States, none is more important than nutrition. This can be argued from various perspectives, including health promotion, disease prevention, and therapeutic management. In all cases, serious consideration of nutrition related issues in the practice is seen to be one means to achieve cost-effective medical care. These modules were developed to provide more practical knowledge to health care providers, and in particular primary care physicians. This module is designed to provide information for the physician which will assist in the counseling of elderly patients regarding their food intake, assessing the nutritional adequacy of the elderly patient's diet, diet planning, and nutritional advice for improving the quality of the meals of the elderly. Included are the learng goals and objectives, self-checks of achievement with regard to goals, and references for the physician and for the physician to give to the patient. The appendices include recommended dietary allowances, a chart of food groups and nutrients, a food composition table, a nomogram for estimating caloric needs, a height and weight chart, a chart of fiber content of foods, and charts of dietary sources of calcium and iron. (CW)