Nutritional evaluation consists of anthropometric, biochemical, clinical and dietary indices and constitutes the objective basis for the diagnosis of protein-calorie malnutrition, as well as the mechanism by which the nutritional adequacy of aggressive diets (enteral and parenteral) is evaluated. Clinical evaluation is the simplest and most practical method of determining a patient's nutritional well-being. In this case, the doctor examines specific areas of the patient's body to find out any signs of deficiency. A clinical nutritional evaluation also involves asking the patient if they have any symptoms that may suggest a nutrient deficiency on the patient's part.
Nutritional status assessment includes, in addition to dietary intake, indicators of nutrition-related health status, such as anthropometric measurements, hematological and biochemical tests, clinical signs of deficiencies, and risk factors for diet-associated diseases (e.g. nutritional assessment (link to page Screening and MUST), which is a brief risk assessment that can be performed by any health professional and that can lead to a nutritional evaluation by a dietetic. Nutritional screening is used to identify malnourished people and nutritional interventions are used for at-risk population subgroups (Gibson, 200. The need to understand and describe people's health status, a basic principle of medicine, led to the development of methods to assess nutritional status as appreciation of the important relationship between nutrition and health increased.
The formulation, evaluation and monitoring of nutritional intervention programs and policies are the main objectives of nutritional surveillance (Gibson, 200. Nutrition assessment is the systematic process of collecting and interpreting information to make decisions about the nature and cause of nutrition-related health problems affecting an individual (British Dietetics Association (BDA), 201. Nutrition surveillance: continuous monitoring of nutrition status of selected population groups (for example, nutritional assessment systems employ several of these methods for comprehensive assessment of nutritional status. Nutritional interventions are carried out in at-risk population subgroups, which are identified during nutrition surveys or screening. Nutritional assessment methods are based on dietary, biochemical laboratory, anthropometric and clinical observations.
Nutritional status represents the satisfaction of the human body's needs for nutritional and protective substances and their reflection in physical, physiological and biochemical characteristics, functional capacity and health status. Clinical Evaluation: Estimation of nutritional status based on recording a medical history and performing a physical examination to detect signs (observations made by a qualified observer) and symptoms (patient-reported manifestations) associated with malnutrition. An overview of the history of nutritional assessments, background information, and other nutritional considerations is provided. Nutritional status represents the satisfaction of the human body with nutritional and protective substances and its reflection in physical characteristics, biochemical composition, physiological characteristics, functional capacity and health status.
