Kent State Interns

FODMAPs are short-chain carbohydrates that are not absorbed correctly in the gut. This is especially bad in individuals with IBS. FODMAPs can trigger those symptoms. FODMAPs stand for fermentable, oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. Fermentable foods process in a way that produces gas. Oligosaccharides are found in foods such as wheat, rye, onions, garlic, and legumes. Disaccharides are lactose products such as dairy, soft cheeses, and yogurt. Monosaccharides consist of fructose which can be found in honey, apples, high fructose corn syrup, table sugar, etc. Polyols are mainly found as artificial sweeteners such as sorbitol and mannitol. This eating pattern is not really considered a diet because it is not meant for weight loss. The goal of this "diet" is to reduce IBS symptoms by achieving Low FODMAPs. There are Apps out there that will list out each food and if it is considered high or low. The best one is considered the "Monash University L...

Hospital food has been previously notorious for having a stigma of being unsatisfactory. This has been due to budget restraints of the hospital, the method of delivery, and the lack of choice. Hospitals across the nation are now utilizing room service. Brisbane, Australia, in 2013, was the first hospital to start this concept. A study was conducted to evaluate patient satisfaction, plate waste, patient meal costs, and nutritional intake of room service compared to traditional hospital foodservice. The results showed an increased nutritional intake, improved patient satisfaction, and reduced plate waste and patient meal costs with room service. This is just an example of how providing the patients choice of what they eat and when they eat can increase their perception of the food quality and increase the overall experience. When this is increased, it in return increases the amount of the food that is consumed, resulting in improved nutritional intake and less plate waste. When patients ...

Chronic wounds have an association with malnutrition and impaired wound healing. Wounds can happen at any age and worsen due to malnutrition. Assessing a patient with malnutrition will help determine the nutrition needed to improve the wound healing process. However, it can be difficult to determine nutritional assessment in geriatric population because the typical signs for malnutrition may be normal elderly people due to normal aging process. There are many types of assessments used to determine if someone is at risk for malnutrition and the risk of developing pressure ulcers. Which means, many facilities are using different tools to assess this which can lead to different treatment. To determine the malnutrition/nutrition status associated with the development of wounds, mobility/activity status, skin status, moisture exposure, weight loss, or appetite can all be evaluated. Pressure ulcers can develop in any individual but especially in the geriatric population due to immobility and...

Eating disorders are often called a female disorder when in reality males are diagnosed with eating disorders as well (Weisenberger, 2017). Males can be afraid to come forward about their issues because eating disorder has been characterized as a women’s problem in the past. According the National Eating Disorders Association, in the United states, 20 million women and 10 million men will suffer from an eating disorder in their lifetime That means for every 2 females diagnosed with an eating disorder, there will be one male with an eating disorder.   As a result of this misconception, males are diagnosed late and receive treatment later in the disease process rather than earlier like females. As a result, males become more ill due to the disease as time goes on due to not getting the help needed sooner. Males fall under the same pressure as females from their peers and from the media. They are pressured to be physically strong like how the media portrays them and desire an athl...

The Effectiveness of the Braden Scale as a Tool for Identifying Nutrition Risk Pressure injuries are areas on the skin with to decreased blood flow to the area causing cell death and tissue damage.   They affect many hospitalized patients and cause increased risk of infection and pain.   Complications of a pressure injuries are also very costly to hospitals, including penalties from Medicare and Medicaid Services if there are high rates of hospital-acquired infections.   Hospitals, therefore, want to prevent infections such as pressure injuries so there are screening tools in place to assess the risk and need for intervention. Nutrition plays a big role in skin integrity.   Decreased energy and protein intake increase the risk of pressure injuries so it is important to assess intake when screening for nutrition risks.    Poor nutrition increases the risk of developing pressure injuries and slows the healing process.   Nutritional intervention is...

March is National Nutrition Month (NNM) every year and is a campaign providing nutrition education and information by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This years NNM theme is "Go Farther with Food!" The goals of this years campaign is to achieve the numerous benefits of healthy eating but also to cut back on food waste. Why is it important to reduce food waste? There are multiple reasons. One reason is because it hurts the environment for food to be wasted and thrown into a landfill and because most food requires lots of resources such as water to make. Another reason is because many families in the US are food insecure and throwing out food increases food costs, which negatively impacts these families that already can not afford food. An example of achieving this goal is by planning meals and snacks in advance to reduce food lose and waste- preparing the meals to go farther. Other ideas include eating food that may spoil first and keeping it in the front of your re...

The field of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics are becoming more prevalent in today’s society. Nutrigenetics is role of DNA sequence variation in the response to nutrients (Bouchard-Mercier, Descroches, & Vohl, 2016). Nutrigenomics identifies how the nutrients and food alter the DNA transcription and translation process and how the gene that regulate metabolic pathways are affecting health outcomes. In simpler terms, nutrigenomics is the study of what we eat and how that has an impact and/or manipulate on our gene expressions and chronic disease management. Nutrigenetics is the study of how genetic variation effects dietary responses, nucleotide polymorphism, reduce a patient’s risk of developing a certain disease, and DNA interacting with food. Genes and diet interaction can help determine predisposition to disease and help identify how diet responds to the gene (Dennet, 2017). With different diets being available in society with little or inaccurate information can alter a pers...

Around 15 million Americans are affected by food allergy that can be potentially life-threatening with about one in every 13 children having a food allergy (Food Allergy Research & Education, n.d.). Allergies are becoming more prevalent and worry for dietitians to become more aware of how to deal with it and how to decrease the risk of developing a severe allergy, like peanuts. Learning Early about Peanut Allergy (LEAP) trial was the first randomized trial to study early allergen introduction as a preventive strategy (Du Toi et al., 2015). They randomized 640 children between 4-11 months of age with severe eczema, egg allergy or both to either consume or avoid peanut containing foods until 60 months of age. The results showed a prevalence of peanut allergy was 35.3% in the avoidance group and 10.6% in the consumption group. The results showed that the group who was introduced to peanuts early in age, had a lower prevalence of developing a peanut allergy. However, that does not me...