18
Intervention
Overview
• Nutrition interventions are recommended for all patients who could
benefit, now or in the future, from nutritional care.
• Nutrition intervention involves many strategies, including hydration, diet,
oral nutritional supplements, tube feeding, and parenteral nutrition.
• Healthcare providers should develop and implement an individualized
nutrition care plan for individuals with, or at risk of, a DFU who are
malnourished or who are at risk of malnutrition.
• Specific nutrition plans should be individualized and based on existing
diagnoses, patient preferences, age, lab test results, pre-existing health
and medical conditions, tolerance of vitamin/mineral supplements, access
to professional/caregiver/family support with grocery shopping and
cooking, and other available resources.
• It's important to set goals that promote improvement in or maintenance of
nutritional status, prevention of infection, and optimization of nutritional
intake to prevent impaired or delayed wound healing.
• Offer most individuals with nutritional and DFU risks a minimum of 30–35
calories per kg body weight per day, 1.25–1.5 g of protein per kg body weight
per day, and 1ml/kcal/day of fluid intake.
▶ For individuals with a high BMI, lower calorie intake while still meeting protein
goals may be appropriate.
• Conducting 24-hour recall, food frequency questionnaires, and reviewing
food diaries (if available) will play an essential role in helping you determine
a patient's energy and protein needs.
• The goal of intervention is to help the patient consume food and fluid in
amounts that meet estimated nutritional requirements, maintain, reduce,
or increase body weight, depending on BMI, and prevent unintentional
weight loss.
