Intervention(s) and comparator(s)	Participants (N)	Description of participants (trial design)	Country	Setting	Sex N (female %)	Age mean years (SD)/range)
Barton 2000	I1: reduced portion fortified menu	13	Elderly hospitalised individuals (cross‐over RCT)	UK	Elderly rehab ward	6 (46)	77 (8)
	I2: normal menu plus cooked breakfast	8 (non‐randomised)				5 (63) (non‐randomised)	78 (9) (non‐randomised)
	C: normal hospital menu	14				11 (79)	75 (11)
Beck 2002	I1: homemade oral supplement	36	Nursing home residents > 65 years (parallel RCT)	Denmark	Residential care home	22 (61)	81 (76‐86)
	I2: homemade oral supplement (B)
	C: usual diet
Bouillanne 2013	I: pulse diet (78% protein at lunch)	66	Hospitalised elderly individuals (parallel RCT)	France	Intermediate care unit	46 (70)	84.1 (6)
	C: usual diet (protein distributed between meals)						85.7 (6.3)
Bourdel‐Marchasson 2000	I: oral supplementation + standard diet	295	Critically ill elderly participants (cluster‐RCT)	France	Hospital wards & geriatric units	199 (67.5)	83.6 (7.3)
	C: standard diet	377				238 (63.1)	83.0 (7.1)
Brouillette 1991	I: osmotherapy + activities	10	Nursing home residents (parallel RCT)	USA	Residential care home	14 (88) of those that completed the trial	80 (6.4)
	C: activities only	10					87 (6.8)
Castellanos 2009	I1: fortified breakfast and lunch menu	39	Nursing home residents (cross‐over RCT)	USA	Residential care home	23/33 finishing (70)	87.3 (8.6)
	I2: fortified lunch menu	39
	C: usual menu	39
Chang 2005	I: training in feeding skills	20	Nursing assistants and nursing home residents with dementia (cluster RCT)	Taiwan	Residential care home	‐	‐
	C: no training	16
Dennis 2005	I: nutritional supplement + normal hospital diet	2016	Participants with recent stroke (parallel RCT)	15 different countries	Hospital	945 (47)	71 (12)
	C: normal hospital diet	2007				929 (46)	71 (13)
Duncan 2006	I. dietetic assistant	153	Women > 65 years admitted with acute hip fracture (parallel RCT)	UK	Acute trauma ward	318 (100)	83.6
	C: usual care	165					83.5
Essed 2007	I1: monosodium glutamate	19	Residents of nursing home ≥ 65 years (factorial RCT)	Netherlands	Residential care home	58 (70)	84.9 (5.7)
	I2: flavour	19					85.4 (6.7)
	I3: monosodium glutamate + flavour	22					84.9 (6.2)
	C: maltodextrin	23					85.6 (8.5)
Essed 2009	I: monosodium glutamate + NaCl	53	Nursing home residents > 65 years (cross‐over RCT)	Netherlands	Residential care home	40 (76)	85.8 (6.2)
	C: usual hot meal	53
Faxen‐Irving 2011	I: 3 x 30 mL of fat emulsion daily	34	Recently admitted geriatric persons > 65 years (parallel RCT)	Sweden	Geriatric acute ward	(61)	82.7 (7.5) ‐ data from those who completed the trial only (N = 24)
	C: usual care	37				(49)	85.1 (6.7) ‐ data from those who completed the trial only (N = 27)
Gaskill 2009	I: nutrition education programme	352	Nursing home residents (cluster‐RCT)	Australia	Residential care home	245 (70)	84.2 (8.7)
	C: usual care
Germain 2006	I: re‐formed foods	8	Frail institutionalised elderly people with dysphagia (parallel RCT)	Canada	Residential care home	5 (63)	82.5 (4.4)
	C: usual diet	9				5 (56)	84.6 (3.8)
Hankey 1993	I: oral nutritional supplement	7	Frail elderly persons in continuing care (parallel RCT)	UK	Hospital	11 (79)	81 (1.6)
	C: standard hospital diet	7
Hickson 2004	I: feeding assistance	292	Acutely ill elderly inpatients (parallel RCT)	UK	Elderly medicine ward	200 (69)	82 (76 ‐ 86)
	C: usual care	300				173 (58)	82 (77 ‐ 87)
Holyday 2012	I: malnutrition care plan	71	Acutely ill elderly inpatients (parallel RCT)	Australia	Acute geriatric medicine ward	43 (61)	83.7 (6.7)
	C: usual care	72				39 (54)	83.4 (7.6)
Johanssen 2004	I: nutrition team	108	Nutritional risk score 2000 > 3 on admission to hospital (parallel RCT)	Denmark	Hospital, three different levels	54 (50)	62 (1.6)
	C: usual care	104				56 (54)	62.4 (1.7)
Kraft 2012	I: ONS + telemedicine monitoring	13	Malnourished geriatric home‐dwelling persons (parallel RCT)	Germany	Hospital discharge and tele‐medicine monitoring	7 (54)	80.7 (5.6)
	C: usual care	13				9 (69)	78.8 (8.8)
Kretser 2003	I: modified meals on wheels	102	Homebound older adults at nutritional risk (parallel RCT)	USA	Home care	70 (69)	(60‐90)
	C: traditional meals on wheels	101				74 (73)
Larsson 1990	I: ONS plus normal hospital diet	435	Older people admitted to a long‐term medical care clinic (parallel RCT)	Sweden	Hospital	Unclear ‐ varies between papers, authors to be contacted	80.1 (8.5)
	C: normal hospital diet
Leslie 2012	I: energy enriched meals	22	People living in residential care homes (cluster‐RCT)	UK	Residential care home	36 (88%)	90.9 (77‐105)
	C; usual care	19					90.3 (70‐100)
Lin 2010	I1: spaced‐retrieval	32	Residents with dementia (cluster‐RCT)	Taiwan	Residential care home	18 (56)	76.7 (6.1)
	I2: Montessori	29				12 (41)	82.9 (6.0)
	C: usual care	24				15 (63)	81.1 (7.0)
Lin 2011	I: Montessori	29	Residents with dementia (cluster RCT & cross‐over RCT)	Taiwan	Residential care home	12 (41)	82.9 (6.0)
	C: usual care
Mathey 2001a	I: improved meal ambiance	21	Nursing home residents > 65 years (cluster‐RCT)	Netherlands	Residential care home	25 (66)	82.2 (7.9)
	C: usual care	17
Mathey 2001b	I: flavour enhancement	36	Nursing home residents > 65 years (parallel RCT)	Netherlands	Residential care home	29 (74)	84.6 (6.1)
	C: usual care	31				25 (81)	83.0 (5.5)
Munk 2014	I: energy and protein enriched foods provided via a la carte menu in addition to hospital food	41 (number completing the trial)	New admissions to hospital ward (oncology, orthopaedics or urology) (parallel RCT)	Denmark	Hospital	25 (61)	75 (10
	C: usual care	40				22 (55)	74 (11)
Nijs 2006	I: family‐style meals	94	Nursing home residents (cluster‐RCT)	Netherlands	Residential care home	70 (74)	78 (11.1)
	C: usual care	84				55 (65)	75 (9.9)
Olofsson 2007	I: multi‐component intervention (including nutrition)	102	People > 70 years with femoral neck fracture (parallel RCT)	Sweden	Geriatric orthopaedic ward	62 (75)	82.1 (6.8)
	C: usual care	97				57 (77)	82.2 (5.6)
Pivi 2011	I1: nutrition education	25	Individuals > 65 years old with Alzheimer's disease (parallel RCT)	Brazil	Neurology outpatients	53 (68)	75.2
	I2: oral nutritional supplements	26
	C: usual care	27
Potter 2001	I: oral nutritional supplement + normal hospital diet	186	Unwell elderly people (parallel RCT)	Scotland, UK	Medicine for the elderly unit	140 (75)	Median 83 (61‐79)
	C: normal hospital diet	195				139 (71)
Remsburg 2001	I: buffet‐style meals	20	Nursing home residents > 65 years (parallel RCT)	USA	Residential care home	19 (95)	80 (6)
	C: usual care	20				13 (65)	80 (8)
Salva 2011	I: teaching and training	448	People with dementia (cluster RCT)	Spain	Home care	300 (67)	79.4 (7)
	C: usual care	498				344 (69)	78.6 (7.5)
Silver 2008	I: fortified home delivered lunch	‐	Adults > 60 years receiving home‐delivered lunch meals (cross‐over RCT)	USA	Home care	31(69) of those who completed the trial (N = 45)	84.4 (1) of those who completed the trial (N = 45)
	C: usual home delivered lunch
Simmons 2008	I: feeding assistance and/or snacks	35	Nursing home residents (cluster‐RCT & cross‐over RCT)	USA	Residential care home	Reported for the total group, and not the subgroup to be used in this review	Reported for the total group, and not the subgroup to be used in this review
	C: usual diet	34
Simmons 2010	I1: snacks	25	Nursing home residents (parallel RCT)	USA	Residential care home	39 (62)	86.9 (11.3)
	I2: supplements	18
	C: usual care	20
Smolliner 2008	I: fortified meals and snacks		Elderly nursing home residents (cluster RCT)	Germany	Residential care home	17 (77)	82.2 (9.5)
	C: usual diet					21 (70)	84.7 (9.5)
Splett 2003	I: medical nutrition therapy	223	Frail elderly nursing home residents (cluster‐RCT)	USA	Residential care home	143 (67)	Male 79.2 (9.7); Female 82.8 (8.7)
	C: usual care	171				125 (73)
Taylor 2006	I: 5‐meal menu	31	Elderly nursing home residents with dysphagia (cross‐over RCT)	Canada	Residential care home	26 (84)	85 (6.4)
	C: usual (3‐meal menu)
Van den Berg 2015	I1: 125 mL ONS twice daily with medication round		Patients newly admitted to medical and surgical wards (parallel RCT)	The Netherlands	Hospital	34 (52)	70.5 (15)
	I2: 62 mL ONS four times daily with medication round					37 (46)	72.6 (10)
	C: usual care (125 mL ONS offered in between meals)					34 (39)	70.4 (13)
Van Ort 1995	I: contextual and behavioural intervention	4	Nursing home residents requiring feeding assistance (parallel RCT)	USA	Residential care home	6 (75)	(65‐93)
	C: usual care	4
‐ denotes not reported C: comparator; I: intervention; ONS: oral nutritional supplement; RCT: randomised controlled trial