Lone Viggers

Background: Different attempts have been made to improve nutritional care and food intake in hospital inpatients. One way may be to improve the individual customisation of meals and meal time points. This pilot study compared the food concept FoodCare consisting of customised meals served on demand and standardised meals served at fixed time points concerning energy and protein intake in medical inpatients. Method: A pilot study including medical lung inpatients at a Danish regional hospital. The control group received a set menu with limited choices served at fixed times. The intervention group received a menu of customised dishes prepared by food professionals and served on demand. Results: Twelve patients were included in the control group and 26 patients in the intervention group. In the intervention group, the tendency showed an increased energy (8.8 ± 2.7 MJ (mean ± SD) compared with the control group of 7.3 ± 2.0 MJ, p=0.10) and protein intake (74 ± 26 grams compared with the control group of 60 ± 18 (mean ± SD) grams, p=0.08). Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrated that a self-selected menu served on demand may potentially increase energy and protein intake in medical inpatients. The concept should be further tested in a randomised control trial with a sufficient sample size.

Medical nutrition therapy is recognized as an important treatment option in type 2 diabetes. Most guidelines recommend eating a diet with a high intake of fiber-rich food including fruit. This is based on the many positive effects of fruit on human health. However some health professionals have concerns that fruit intake has a negative impact on glycemic control and therefore recommend restricting the fruit intake. We found no studies addressing this important clinical question. The objective was to investigate whether an advice to reduce the intake of fruit to patients with type 2 diabetes affects HbA1c, bodyweight, waist circumference and fruit intake.