Background: Oral nutritional supplements aim at offsetting dietary deficits and helping to meet energy and protein targets. Due to the absence of data about their role in food intake, it is necessary to evaluate the contribution of these products to the estimated needs of hospitalized patients. Methods: This is a prospective longitudinal study with hospitalized patients over 18 years of age, admitted to a public university hospital, who were given oral nutritional supplements, according to clinical guidelines. Food intake was quantified throughout the period such products were prescribed. Results: 805-day food intake follow-up and record of 128 patients, who took supplements for 6.4 days on average. The use of nutritional supplements demonstrated a significant contribution to the input of both energy (1576 kcal/day versus 1263 kcal/day, p<0.001) and protein (68.7 g/day versus 50.3 g/day, p<0.001). Conclusions: Nutritional supplements help increase food intake and achieve nutritional goals when prescribed in a hospital setting.
BACKGROUND: A healthy diet is recommended for patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) in remission. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diet quality of patients with CD. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with patients with CD and clinical remission using the biological agent infliximab. The diet quality was assessed using the Diet Quality Index-Revised (DQI-R). DQI-R was calculated based on 24-hour dietary recalls (24HR), being classified as “inadequate diet” (≤40 points), “diet requiring modifications” (41 to 64 points) and “healthy diet” (≥65 points). Weight, height and waist circumference (WC) of patients were assessed. For comparison between groups, Student’s t-test or Mann-Whitney was used. For correlation between continuous variables, Pearson or Spearman coefficient was used. Values of P<0.05 indicated statistical significance. RESULTS: A total of 43 patients participated in the study. The final DQI-R score was 49.1 points - “diet requiring modifications”. No patient received the classification of “healthy diet” (maximum score =59.7), 55.8% presented “diet requiring modifications” and 44.2% “inadequate diet”. When comparing the “inadequate diet” and “diet requiring modifications” groups, a lower mean age was observed in the “inadequate diet” group (37.6±14.8 versus 47.4±10.5 y, P=0.02). It was found that 44.2% of the patients were overweight (body mass index [BMI] ≥25 kg/m²) and had increased WC (women: WC ≥80 cm and men: WC ≥94 cm). A positive correlation was found between the final DQI-R score and BMI (P=0.046; r=0.346). CONCLUSION: Patients with CD in clinical remission using infliximab are not adopting a diet considered healthy, which points to the need for an individualized nutritional approach.
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