Content

The content of the subject is taught by teachers from the nursing and biochemistry departments of the Faculty of Medicine. The subject is coordinated by Mònica Amado Sanjuan from the Nursing Department and María Antonia Baltrons from the department of Biochemistry.

 

Unit I. Energy and nutrients

• Structure and properties of nutrients. General requirements and recommendations

- Simple and complex carbohydrates. Vegetal fiber

- Lipids: saturated and unsaturated fats; essential lipids

- Proteins and amino acids

- vitamins

- Minerals and trace elements

- Water

 

Unit II. Macronutrients metabolism

- Introduction to the metabolism and homeostasis of energy

- Digestion, absorption and metabolism of nutrients

• Carbohydrates

• Lipids. Transport of lipids in the blood

• Proteins and other nitrogen compounds. Nitrogenous balance

• Metabolic interrelationships between tissues in the fasting-feeding cycle

 

Unit III. Assessment of nutritional status

• Anthropometry. Body mass index, waist and hip perimeters, skin folds

- Vegetable fiber

• Homeostasis of energy

- Biochemistry of energy transfers

- Energy expenditure

- Individual energy requirements

- Caloric value of nutrients

 

Unit IV. Food groups: composition, characteristics and importance for health

• Foods rich in carbohydrates and fibre: Group of cereals, tubers and pulses. Group of fruits, vegetables and vegetables

• Foods rich in protein and lipids: Milk group and derivatives. Group of meats, fish and eggs

• Other foods: Miscellaneous group: alcohol, additives, pollutants

 

Unit V. Nutritional balance

• Characteristics of nutritional balance.

• The need for healthy eating at every stage oflife. Biological, psychological, social and cultural factors that influence eating behavior.

• Food composition tables. Food rations. Eating behavior. Feeding assessment.

• Oral, enteral and parenteral route. Disphagia

• Nutritional Assessment scales.

 

Unit VI. Therapeutic diets

• Introduction to diet therapy.

• Diet characteristics. Assessment, Problems identification. Objectives formulation. Propose and justify educational interventions for the assisted person and the family. Prepare the diet with the person. Carrying out a diet. Problems of the performance of therapeutic diets. Evaluation. Continuity of care of the person served to maintain adherence to the diet.

• The need for food for people with more prevalent and/or high impact health problems.

• Oral, enteral and parenteral route. Disfagia.

• Food handling and regulation: most prevalent problems