Nutritional Scoring and Assessment

The nutritional assessment is a set of medical tasks used to determine the nutritional status of a population. Originally, this term was used by a sub-committee of the League of Nations in 1932 and after 1976 nutritional assessment became hospital-based, standardized set of tools to predict health and nutrition outcomes in patients suffering post-op malnutrition, trauma and complications. This tools were later used to assess the health of athletes and corporate executives suffering from various chronic diseases. Nowadays, nutritional scoring and assessment include computerized nutritional intake analysis, bioelectrical impedance, anthropometrics, revieview of lifestyle, fitness and medications indicators, laboratory blood test results etc. Nutritional scoring and assessment is helpful whether someone’s personal goal is to manage some medical condition, to choose the ideal nutrition lifestyle or to improve athletic performance.

An in-depth evaluation of subjective and objective data related to medical history, food intake and lifestyle really can say a lot about the nutritional status of an individual. Nutritional assessment is not just collecting the data, they should be organized and analyzed by the practitioner. After that, the medical practitioner can design and create the plan of care or intervention that would help the patient to maintain their over-all health status or to live healthier. There are four categories of nutritional assessment data: dietary, clinical, biochemical and anthropometric. Malnourished or patients with the high risk of malnutrition cannot be discovered by one single parameter. There is not even the best parameter or golden standards and that is why many parameters constitute the patient’s nutritional status. The anthropometric data are used to assess the desirable or ideal weight. Age, height and weight can be plugged into the Harris-Benedict equation and that way protein and calorie needs can be determine. Dietary, biochemical and clinical data show the effects and influences on the patient’s nutritional status. The practitioner formulates and discusses a nutritional intervention (recommended physical exercise and dietary guidance) with the individual.

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