Nutrient intake and anthropometric assessment of patients at home after partial gastrectomy or vagotomy.

Ten patients, six of whom had had a partial gastrectomy and four a vagotomy, took part in the study. Anthropometric measurements, weighed dietary intakes, social circumstances and amount of dietary advice and help received by patients were recorded during the first month and at 7 months after discharge from hospital. Anthropometric measurements changed little during the first month but improved in most of those with lower than normal initial values by the end of 7 months. Mean energy and protein intakes during the first month were low for the gastrectomy patients but were adequate for the vagotomy patients. By 7 months the intakes of the gastrectomy patients had increased considerably. Mean intakes of vitamin C, total folate and zinc tended to be low in both groups and mean intakes of iron were low in the gastrectomy patients. No patient ate an entirely satisfactory diet. Very little advice or encouragement on diet was available from dietitians, doctors or other health workers either prior to or after discharge.

Computerised dietary calculations: an interactive approach updated.

Five dietary interactive programs have been written based on the 4th edition of McCance and Widdowson's 'The composition of foods' (Paul & Southgate, 1978) to which additional recipes and foods, including products used in therapeutic diets, have been added. The programs are DIET1 for calculating the nutrient content of a meal, recipe or list of foods; DAILYD for calculating the nutrient intake for a day, meal by meal; EXCHNG for calculating the weights of any selected foods required to obtain any chosen weight of any selected nutrient; DIETAD which gives the code numbers and nutrient composition of foods which have been added; INFOD1 which gives the nutrient composition of any food on the file. The use of these programs is described and an example using DIET1 is given.