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Nutrition Resource Centre

Nutrition Resource Centre				Nutrition expert: Alison Burton-Shepherd Alison Burton-Shepherd is a registered nurse with a background in acute adult and primary care nursing. She is also a registered nutritionist with the Nutrition Society. Alison teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Department of Primary Care and Child Health at King’s College London, focusing particularly on nutrition, acute medicine, advanced assessment and public health/primary care. Alison also works clinically as a nurse advisor for a GP out-of-hours service, where she gives clinical advice over the telephone. Nutrition expert blog Why are patients being put at risk of dehydration and starvation? click here Manutrition Malnutrition can occur in a variety of patient groups, such as pre- and post-surgery, oncology patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, HIV patients, the elderly, those with mental health problems and those with a chronic illness. It can also occur in well people who can't find the time to eat a full and balanced diet – busy modern lifestyles often mean that meals and food become a low priority. Nurses need to be confident in the use of appropriate screening tools to identify and monitor those at risk and have a good understanding of nutritional support and practical measures for helping to treat loss of appetite or poor food intake. Eating disorders Eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating are very much on the rise, increasing the likelihood of primary care nurses coming into contact with patients with these disorders in everyday practice. The complex and hidden aspects of these psychiatric illnesses of developed societies are challenging. Typically an eating disorder can be defined as abnormal eating habits associated with a fear of fatness, and a high sensitivity to change in weight, shape and/or size, often accompanied by an underlying distortion in the person's perception of their body image. Useful links British Nutrition Foundation British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Nutritionist Resource NICE Guidance: Nutrition Support in Adults WHO: Obesity NHS Information Centre: Obesity NHS Choices: Eating disorders NHS Choices: Malnutrition Sign up to receive the very latest on nutrition Name: Email address:
The Nursing in Practice Nutrition Resource Centre aims to provide you with the latest updates in obesity to assist you with the management of overweight patients and related health concerns, including malnutrition, osteoporosis and eating disorders. Dietary supplements are widely used in the community when food intake is reduced. It is now accepted that nurses should give advice to people with a poor food intake sooner rather than later, before nutrition-related consequences set in.
Latest nutrition news Allergy online resource launched to plug "serious" training gap Friday 11 May 2012 A free online tool has been launched to combat a “serious lack of knowledge of allergy in the primary care sector”. Brits underestimate sugar content of 'healthy' drinks Tuesday 17 April 2012 Brits “significantly misjudge” the sugar and calorie content of ‘healthy’ drinks, research suggests IBS hospital admissions down 2% year-on-year Friday 13 April 2012 More than 5,000 patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) were admitted to hospital in England during 2011, official statistics show Spoon-fed babies 'likely' to be obese in later life Tuesday 7 February 2012 Spoon-fed babies are more likely to be overweight when older than those infants allowed to feed themselves with finger foods, a study claims		Latest nutrition clinical articles Breast is best? The debate continues ... Tuesday 29 March 2011 Infant nutrition has long been a contentious issue. This article focuses on the current UK guidance, what we know about breastfeeding and whether or not the messages are getting through to professionals and parents Vitamin D and rickets in children Thursday 24 March 2011 Recent reports have suggested that rickets, previously considered to be a rare disease, is on the increase in the UK due to lack of exposure to sunlight. This article looks at the role of vitamin D in healthy development and how rickets can be avoided Nutritional management of blood lipids in diabetes Thursday 24 March 2011 This article looks at dietary advice to improve blood lipid profiles and reduce cardiovascular risk in diabetes, which includes the promotion of ‘cardio-protective’ foods that won’t necessarily lower blood cholesterol Addressing nutritional needs in end-stage dementia Thursday 20 January 2011 Dysphagia is common at the end of life and may cause pneumonia, dehydration and malnutrition. Gaye Kyle looks at some of the barriers to end-of-life dementia care, with particular reference to the provision of food and fluid
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Ask Amanda: toddler diet dilemmas solved Friday 27 May 2011 Amanda Ursell, renowned TV nutritionist, answers questions for healthcare and nursery practitioners on toddler diets and the importance of early years nutrition Effective nutritional interventions for diabetes control Monday 27 September 2010 The prevalence of diabetes is not decreasing, and since it would appear that the profession is doing all it can to reduce and manage the incidence of diabetes, what more can be done?