Introduction:
Nutrition is one of the most important and modifiable interventions for a healthy lifestyle and well-being. It is key to reducing morbidity and mortality. Nutritional intervention is a purposefully planned programmed policy for the nutrition of individuals and populations. It is a set of actions intended to change behavior, environmental conditions, and health status. These actions can range from the administration of nutrition to the implementation of nutrition. It decreases the risk factors of diseases in the individual community target group and large-scale population.
The set of actions includes a range of planned change efforts. It helps in the improvement of nutritional status and prevents various diseases. It includes healthy behavior, health-promoting actions, diet, and physical activities. Healthy behavior and health status depend upon food availability, awareness of economics, and social strata. Therefore, it is essential to know nutritional interventions to handle the problems associated with nutrition. The processes involved in nutrition care are the following:
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Assessment of nutrition.
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Diagnosis of nutritional deficiency diseases.
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Nutritional intervention.
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Monitoring and evaluation of nutrition.
What Is Nutritional Intervention?
Nutritional intervention is defined as purposefully planned sets of actions that intend to change the nutritional behavior, overall health status, environmental conditions, and dietary intake habits of the individual target group of a community or population. It is also known as a nutrition prescription. It comprises two components: planning and implementation of nutrition intervention. First, the life cycle approach is made within the inter-sectoral collaboration. It aims to reduce the prevalence of diseases. It helps improve nutritional health and clinically impacts dietary deficiency diseases. The following are two distinct and interrelated components of nutritional intervention:
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Planning - It consists of growth monitoring and interpreting the growth over a while.
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Implementation - It consists of providing interventions to maintain and optimize growth.
What Is the Significance of Nutritional Intervention?
Nutritional interventions are planned health actions that improve nutritional intake, awareness, environmental conditions, and access to supportive care. It also helps in monitoring the progress and measuring outcomes. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2014), the primary goal of nutritional intervention is to improve health status and nutrition by providing educational advice and the availability of food components of a specific diet or meal plan in an individual target community or population. It is planned according to the nutritional requirement and helps diagnose nutritional deficiency diseases.
The following are the roles of nutritional intervention:
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It improves the awareness and knowledge of nutritional issues.
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It helps in improving maternal and young infant health.
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It helps in promoting improved management of malnutrition.
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It helps in preventing micronutrient deficiency diseases.
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It promotes a healthy lifestyle for an individual.
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It provides strategies to control nutritional deficiency diseases.
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It helps in reducing morbidity and mortality.
What Are the Types of Nutritional Intervention?
According to the World Health Organization, nutrition interventions are divided into four types.
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Behavioral Intervention - Behavioral Intervention aims to change eating habits to improve the individual's health status. The modification of food preparation and eating behavior can prevent nutritional deficiency diseases.
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Fortification - Fortification is the addition of specific nutrients to a deficient diet. It helps overcome nutritional deficiencies. Vitamins and minerals are commonly added.
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Supplementation - Supplementation is the addition of specific nutrients to a specific population. The specific groups are pregnant women, infants, and lactating mothers. The food with specific nutrients is provided at a nominal price.
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Regulatory Intervention - Regulatory intervention regulates specific activities to improve health and modify individuals' nutrition.
In addition, nutritional intervention in older adults may include the nutritional status according to the needs, function, and capacity for rehabilitation, quality of life, and reduction of morbidity, mortality, and malnutrition-associated costs.
What Are the Steps of Nutritional Intervention?
Nutritional intervention is divided into two steps.
1. Planning of Nutritional Intervention - It involves the following:
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To prioritize the nutritional diagnosis.
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To practice evidence-based nutrition.
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To determine the patient-focused outcome in health issues.
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To strategize the plans of action in nutritional intervention programs.
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To identify the required resources.
2. Implementation in Nutritional Plans - It involves the following:
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To communicate the plans of nutritional care.
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To carry out the plans of nutritional intervention.
What Are the Domains Of Nutritional Intervention?
Following are the domains of nutritional interventions.
1. Nutrient Delivery - This domain is characterized by the individualized approach to providing food and nutrients to patients.
Following are the six classes of this domain:
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Snacks and meals.
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Parental nutrition.
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Enteral nutrition.
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Assistance in feeding.
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Managing the feeding environment.
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Medication management of nutrition-related diseases.
2. Nutritional Education - It is a process in which instructions are given to the individual with knowledge and skill to help the patients. It helps manage nutritional choices, physical activities, and modification of food and behaviors. In addition, it helps improve patients' health status by providing proper instructions and care.
Following are the two classes of this domain:
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Nutritional education content.
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Nutritional education application.
3. Nutritional Counseling - This domain involves the collaborative relationship of the patient with a dietician and nutritional counselor. It includes prioritizing the goals and actions in diet plans. It includes changes in lifestyles and behavior modification. Action plans are acknowledged for self-care and to treat pre-existing conditions.
The following are the two classes of this domain:
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Theoretical approach.
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Strategies.
4. Coordination of Nutritional Care - This domain includes the consultation and coordination of nutritional care. Various healthcare agencies, institutions, and providers help treat nutritional-related problems.
The following are the two classes of this domain:
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Collaboration of nutritional care.
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Transfer and discharge of nutritional care.
Conclusion:
Nutrition is essential for the well-being of human health and growth. It is a fundamental component of physical and mental health. It helps in the prevention of a wide range of diseases. Diet plays a very crucial role in human health. Overnutrition or undernutrition can lead to morbidity and mortality. Nutritional intervention with the help of dietary changes and practicing a healthy lifestyle affect morbidity and mortality rates. It can be implemented at individual or population levels. Proper knowledge and awareness are essential as it helps keep individual health and well-being. In addition, nutritional intervention is essential for the appropriate management of malnutrition in the aged population.
