Abstract

CALLEJA FERNANDEZ, Alicia; VIDAL CASARIEGO, Alfonso; CANO RODRIGUEZ, Isidoro  and  BALLESTEROS POMAR, María D.. Adequacy of hospital diets to inpatients' nutritional requirements. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2016, vol.33, n.1, pp.80-85. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.20960/nh.22.

Introduction: Hospital diets should provide enough energy from an adequate macronutrient distribution. Aim: To determine the nutritional quality of hospital diets. Methods: Cross-sectional study in routine clinical practice. Nutritional assessment of all hospital diets and an estimation of the energy and protein needs of hospitalized patients were performed. Nutritional and dietary adequacy of current diets taking into account the nutritional needs of the patient was assessed. It was considered as a "complete diet" if the energy and protein value was above the 95th percentile of the detected nutritional requirements of the evaluated patients; as a "potentially complete diet" if the energy and protein value was between the 95-75^th percentile of the nutritional requirements; and as an "incomplete diet" if the energy and protein value was below the 75^th percentile of the nutritional requirements. Results: 54 types of hospital diets were nutritionally evaluated and 201 patients were assessed. Their median age was 71.60 (21.40 RIC) years and 51.25% were women. Their energy needs were 25.84 (SD 2.55) kcal/kg/day or 1,753.54 (SD 232.51) kcal/day; the 95^th percentile was 2,153.9 kcal/day and the 75^th percentile was 1,772.5 kcal/day. Their protein requirements were 1.2 (SD 0.10) g/kg/day or 82.30 (SD 16.76) g/day; the 95^th percentile was 112.3 g/day and the 75^th percentile was 91.8 g/day. 25% of the diets covered energy needs of the hospital population; only one diet covered protein needs. Conclusions: The evaluated diets did not cover the nutritional needs of hospitalized patients. The current restructuring of diets will satisfy patient's nutritional needs as well as their dining expectations.

Keywords : Menu planning; Diet.

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