Oral diet in health personnel, fulfillment of daily recommendations

Background. Nutritional education is an essential issue for the proper approach to patients. One of the first issues to have in mind is the appropriate nutritional guidelines in theses professionals in their routine life. The aim of out work was to determine the oral intake pattern in a group of health professionals. Materials and methods. A 24-hours nutritional survey (encuesta) was performed in a group of 51 health professionals (including both medical and nurse personnel) who attended a course in specialized training in nutrition at Hospital Universitario Rio Hortega. All participants had their weight, length, age, and profession recorded. Before complying with diet they received an identification session of alimentary rations. Results. The mean age of participants was 25.9 (5.4) years and they were all women (52.9% nurses and 47.1% physicians). Body mass index (BMI) was 21.9 (2.6). The intake of vitamin D was lower than international recommendations (RDA): 2.25 (3.27) mug/day. However, the intake of vitamin C, 183.8 (118) mg/day; vitamin B-12, 4.73 (3.18) mg/day; folic acid, 262.4 (126) mug/day, and iodine, 310.3 (185) mug/day were higher than international recommendations. The caloric intake was appropriate for the age of participants and protein intake was 2-fold above normality 1.66 (0.9) g/kg/day. Differences were observed only between the group of nurses and physicians regarding iodine intake, slightly higher in the former individuals. Conclusion. In summary, the caloric intake in these health professionals is appropriate, and there is an excess in the intake of proteins, vitamin C, vitamin B12, folic acid and iodine, with a low intake of vitamin D.