mainstream medical treatment and the deititian forms an integral part of the medical team. The dietitian has the primary responsibility for ensuring that the patient receives appropriate diet and optimal nutritional care, after assessing the nutritional status of the patients, analysing nutrient needs (nutritional requirements change in different illness/disease states) and developing the nutrition care plan by administering suitable regimens to patients who are hospitalised or counseling those in the outpatient department (OPD). Both normal and therapeutic diets are planned to maintain or restore good nutrition in the individual. This is done by the medical nutrition therapist/dietitian taking into account the food pattern and frequency of intake of different types of food, diagnosis of disease and prescription given by the doctor, the health status and physical condition including ability to eat, chew, swallow, digest and absorb the food eaten, feeling of hunger, physical activity and life style, dietary and other supplements consumed, cultural/ethnic practices and religious beliefs.
Let us get acquainted with some basic terms used by clinical nutritionists and dietitians. Types of Diets : Any nutritional care plan involves providing for adequate intake of all nutrients vis-à-vis the requirements based on age, sex, physiological state, occupation and health status. A standard, normal or regular diet is one that includes all groups of foods and meets the needs of healthy individuals. However, in the hospitals a regular diet would be low in fried fatty foods, sweets, spices and condiments.
Modified diets are those that are adjusted to meet the medical needs of a patient, which may involve one or more of the following: ( ) change in consistency and/or texture (e.g., fluid and soft diets), ( ) an increase or decrease in the energy intake, ( ) include greater or lesser amounts of one or more nutrients e.g., increase in protein intake in case of surgery, lower protein intake in case of kidney failure, high or low in fibre, lower fat intake, restriction in sodium intake, restriction in fluid intake, restricted intake of certain foods as these may be rich in a non-nutritive dietary constituent e.g., spinach, because spinach is rich in