Nutritional status
-it's the balance between intake of nutrients by an organism and expenditure of these in processes of growth, reproduction and health maintenance
-accurate measurements are required for clinical practice → the result is compared with reference data to produce an indicator for nutritional status
→ direct methods: deals with the individual and measure objective criteria
- Anthropometric methods (non-invasive, measure body composition→height, weight, proportions; BMI, skin-fold thickness…)
- Biochemical or laboratory methods (biochemical markers..)
- Clinical indicators
- Dietary assessment methods
→ indirect: use community health indices that reflect nutritional influence (three categories)
- ecological variables including crop production
- economic factors (per capita income, population density and social habits)
- vital health statistics particularly infant & under 5 mortality and fertility index
Assessment of nutritional status. Dietary assessment methods.
I. Assessment of Nutritional Status
Nutritional status is the balance between the intake of nutrients by an organism and the expenditure of these in the processes of growth, reproduction, and health maintenance. Because this process is highly complexed and quite individualized, nutritional status assessment can be directed at a wide variety of aspects of nutritive. These range from nutrient levels in the body, to the products of their metabolism, and to the functional processes they regulate. Nutritional status can be measured for individuals as well as for populations. Accurate measurement of individual nutritional status is required in clinical practice. Population measures are more important in research. They can be used to describe nutritional status of the group, to identify populations or population segments at risk for nutrition-related health consequences, and to evaluate interventions.
The choice of nutritional status assessment method must be made mindful of the level at which one wants information, as well as of the validity and reliability of the method. All methods produce imperfect measures that are indirect approximations of the process. Whatever method is chosen for assessment of nutritional status, the data obtained must be compared with reference data to produce an indicator of nutritional status. The quality of the available reference data is, therefore, another factor that affects the assessment data.
The nutritional status of an individual is often the result of many inter-related factors. It is influenced by food intake, quantity & quality, physical health. The spectrum of nutritional status spread from obesity to severe malnutrition.