7 - Nutrition Assessment

Question 1

The population guidelines…

Answer 1

act on the best available evidence to form diets that maximise peoples health especially with respect to NCDs

Question 2

Why is nutritional assessment important?

Answer 2

1/3 enter hospital malnourished so need to pick these people up
pop is ageing - more susceptible to malnourishment

Question 3

Consequences of malnutrition?

Answer 3

• increased morbidity, infections and complications
• decreased wound healing and tendency to improve
• increased mortality, need for treatment and hospital stay
• decreased quality of life and increase cost

Question 4

What is nutritional status?

Answer 4

Balance between nutrient intake and nutrient expenditure

The measures of nutritional status reflect intake, digestion, absorption, metabloism, storage and excretion

Question 5

Nutritional assessment can be at the … and the … level

Answer 5

Individual level - diagnosis, screening, intervention, monitoring
Population level - policy setting, program evaluation, nutritional surveillance

Question 6

ABCDEs of nutrition assessment?

Answer 6

Anthropometric 
Biochemical
Clinical 
Dietary 
Economic/social

Question 7

Anthropometry

Answer 7

Changes in physical dimension and body composition and rate of change i.e. weight, height, knee height, arm length, circumference

Question 8

Other more invasive and less commonly used measures of anthropometry?

Answer 8

1. Skinfolds - thickness of fold
2. Bioelectrical impedence - resistance to current (small and inexpensive)
3. Body density - water displacement/weight while submerged compared to on land
4. Air displacement
5. DEXA - fat mass and bone mineral density using X RAYS

Question 9

Models of body composition?

Answer 9

1. body weight
2. fat free mass + fat
3. extracellular mass + cellular mass + fat
4. protein + bone + water + fat

Question 10

Ideal body fat composition for men and women?

Answer 10

men - 12-20% body fat

women slightly more at - 12-30%

Question 11

How do we generally determine healthy body weight?

Answer 11

Via body mass index (BMI). BMI has a suggested weight for a certain gender and height. BMI is used to determine health risk factors related to weight

Question 12

How to calculate BMI?

Answer 12

weight (kg) x height (m) squared

Question 13

Do we classify weights in different BMIs depending on ethnicity?

Answer 13

Not anymore - got difficult as many people with mixed descent so hard to determine accurate cut off. Should bring it back - different ethnicities don’t seem to get the SAME health risks at the same BMIs/weight. Asians get more health risks at same BMI as european