Nutritional assessment Flashcards
Purpose of a nutritional assessment?
Understand nutrition status and disease risk
What is a primary deficiency?
Inadequate intake from diet
What is a secondary deficiency?
Problems inside the body, e.g. absorption, metabolism, storage, excretion
What’s the covert stage of a deficiency?
Biochemical changes before physical signs and symptoms progress (i.e. cannot be observed)
Overt stage
Can be observed (result of unaddressed deficiencies)
What’s an anthropometric assessment (broadly)?
Measurement of the body (objective)
BMI measures weight with respect to height. What are some of the benefits of measuring BMI (body mass index)?
Cheap and easy to perform
Cons of BMI?
Doesn’t account for body composition, fitness or cultural differences
How to calculate BMI?
BMI = weight (kg) / height (m)2
What are some other common anthropometric assessments? (addition info only)
- waist circumference (increases risk if > 94cm in males, 80cm in females)
- waist-hip ratio
- growth charts
- skin fold thickness
- bioelectrical impedance analysis
- dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)
- air displacement plethysmography
What’s a biochemical assessment?
Measures nutrients and biomarkers for nutrient status and disease progression
What’s a clinical assessment?
Taking a case or ‘history taking’ including physical signs (objective) and symptoms (subjective). Also include family/medical history.
What is a dietary assessment and what are the pros/cons of retrospective vs prospective intake assessments?
The measure of nutrient intake
> Retrospective is cheap, quick, easy BUT based on memory
Prospective is more accurate but may be tedious and need apps, etc.
Both are susceptible to underreporting
What is an ecological assessment?
Sociocultural and environmental influences on nutritional status. e.g. job, education, religion, food security, etc.
How do you calculate estimated energy requirements?
Basal metabolic rate + physical activity levels + thermic effect of food
