Nutrient content in peas served to patients: vitamin C is degraded during four stages of foodservice processing at two hospitals

Abstract

This investigation follows seminal work on nutrient degradation as the authors seek to quantify how much vitamin C, as a marker of nutrient quality, is retained at various stages of processing (frozen, steamed, trayline and delivery) of peas at two New Jersey hospitals. Healthcare providers use nutrient data standards provided by various national and international government and nongovernment agencies. Physicians, dietitians and menu planners rely on these values for nutritional therapy. We found that the current methodology for predicting nutritional outcomes of cooked foods in hospitals may not be reliable in assessing nutrients served to patients. Sampled peas were found to contain significantly (P < 0.05 for both Hospitals A and B) less vitamin C compared with the published standard value (‘cooked’) for vitamin C. In Hospitals A and B, the nutrient quality of vitamin C was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) as peas progressed to patients. As improved nutritional status has been shown to correlate with faster healing and recovery, thus reduced hospital stays, we recommend that hospitals use improved cooking methods to reduce the loss of nutrients in foods served to patients. Vegetables in particular should be cooked for the briefest period of time or at the lowest temperature that ensures safety.

Vitamin C, total phenolics and antioxidative activity in tip-cut green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and swede rods (Brassica napusvar.napobrassica) processed by methods used in catering

“…Processing may influence nutrients or phytochemicals positively by release of compounds and increase in bioavailability4 or negatively by physical losses and chemical degradation 5, 6. Thus, to ensure the nutritional quality of diets for healthy persons as well as for therapeutic use, it is crucial to know how the various processing steps contribute to the levels of nutrients at the time of consumption 7–9. This is emphasised by the fact that many hospitalised patients today have inadequate intakes of nutrients, such as water‐soluble vitamins 8…”

A laboratory analysis of total fat content and an examination of portion size of foods served in four New Jersey public middle‐school foodservice operations

“…Our previous work demonstrated that the nutrient content of hospital food served can differ from expected USDA values (Feldman et al 2006). In the literature, substantial variance from expected food nutritional values has also been found in institutional foodservice operations (e.g.…”

Effects of cooking methods and processing stages on vitamin C in traditional Lebanese meals

“…The rate of AA destruction was influenced by pH (Lee et al, 1977). The comparison of frozen, steamed, tray-line and delivered peas between two hospital foodservice systems showed that AA loss was higher in the hospital that had higher Effects of cooking methods cooking temperatures where the other conditions were comparable (Feldman et al, 2006). Heat also accelerated the rate of oxidation even in the absence of oxygen in thermally treated (70-95 C) rose hip pulp (karhan et al, 2004).…”