Nutrition Assesment

Question 1

Purpose of nutritional assessment

Answer 1

1- identify individuals with malnourishment
2- develope a health care program
3- measure it’s effectiveness

Question 2

Methods of nutritional assessment

Answer 2

1- direct : on individual
2- indirect: on community

Question 3

Indirect method

Answer 3

1- vital health statistics eg morbidity of diseases , mortality and other indicators like infant and under 5 mortality

2- ecologic factors : food balance sheet( ( food produced and imported - exported and used in other than human need ) and then divide it on population to know every individual’s )

3- economic factors : household income
4- cultural and social habits

Question 4

Direct method

Answer 4

A : Anthropometric method
B: biochemical, laboratory method
C : clinical method
D: dietary method

Question 5

Anthropometric method

Answer 5

Measuring height, weight and some proportions
Like 1- mid arm circumference ( red ~> severe acute malnutrition, yellow ~> moderate acute malnutrition, green ~> no acute malnutrition)
2- head circumference ( till 2 years )
3- skin fold thickness ( to measure sc fat )
4- head /chest ratio
5- waist / hip ratio

And comparing it to a standard of same age and sex to evaluate the nutritional status

Question 6

Nutritional indices In adults

Answer 6

1-Body mass index : weight (kg)/height ( m2)

If it is < 18.5 ( underweight)
If it is 18.5: 24.9 ( normal)
If it is 25: 29.9 ( overweight)
If it is 30 and above ( obese )

2- WHR waist hip ratio to know type of obeses
Measuring waist at the umbilicus point then measuring hip and dividing it

If it > 0.8 ( 80%) in female
Or
If it > 0.95 ( 95%) in male then they are central obeses and this is a high risk of diabetes and CVS disorders

Question 7

BMI in children

Answer 7

•As this period children keep growing so there is no constant BMI so we measure it by growth curve or chart ( BMI FOR AGE - WEIGHT FOR AGE - HEIGHT FOR AGE - WEIGHT FOR HEIGHT)

• 95th percentile ( سقف الcurve )
5th percentile ( أرضيته)

• Under 5th percentile: under weight ( or under what is measured eg height)
Above 95th percentile: overweight

• If weight for age is low then its underweight
If weight for height is low then its wasting ( acute malnutrition)
If height for age is low then its stunting ( chronic malnutrition )

If weight for age is low then I measure weight for height and its normal then its also chronic malnutrition ( عنده نقص ف الطول والوزن يعني شيء مزمن )

• Normally , there is continuous growth so the point must be following the curve ( ascending) ( لو فيه نقطتين ميبقوش متوازين لازم يبقى فيه نمو )

Question 8

Biochemical and laboratory method

Answer 8

By laboratory tests on blood and urine
It detects deficiencies earlier

Question 9

Dietary method

Answer 9

1- 24 h dietary recall
•A interviewer sits with the subject and asks to recall all ingested food
• easy , quick but it may not represent the actual food intake of this subject
2- food frequency questionnaire
With a list of 100 food item , it measures the frequency of intake per day month or year
3- food record or diary
Recording ( amount and type of good ) at the time , difficult
4- observed food consumption
It is unused method but more accurate and is used for research purposes
It is done by Weighing the fat eaten and calculating its contents