A prospective, randomised, parallel, open-label trial, study in malnourished care home residents, without obvious dementia, to compare the effects of two common forms of nutritional support; dietary advice (DA) and oral nutritional supplements (ONS), on quality of life (QoL) and other outcomes including weight, nutritional intake and appetite. The residents were randomised to receive either DA provided by a dietitian or ONS for a period of 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was QoL and the secondary outcome measure was dietary intake.