Ariel Hart

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Beulig, Alfred

Keywords

Medicine, Surgery, Food

Area of Concentration

Natural Sciences

Abstract

The trauma of surgery puts patients into a catabolic phase of stress. In order for a body to heal and rebuild, it needs access to the proper substrates, many of which can be provided in a patient's diet, including proteins, vitamins, essential fatty acids, and calories to fuel the necessary bustle of internal activity. In recent years, certain "pharmaconutrients" have been found to improve clinical outcomes as dramatically as treatment with antibiotics or other traditional "drugs". Incorporation of this information into the hospital setting is lagging, however, even when it comes to providing sufficient calorie and protein intakes. Studies have demonstrated the prevalence of protein and energy malnutrition in hospitals for decades, but the problem still remains. Recent data show that 40-50% of hospitalized patients are malnourished. Although "functional foods" have been popularized among consumers, many nutraceuticals with significant clinical and mechanistic evidence are currently under-used in western medicine in those places where they could be most beneficial. The hospital is an ideal setting for incorporation of functional foods, since the diets of hospitalized patients are almost completely under the control of doctors and other health professionals. Incorporation of nutritional therapy to prevent protein and calorie malnutrition and essential nutrient deficiencies, and to make use of pharmacologically active food products, has the potential to decrease infection rates, durations of hospital stays, and mortalities, improve clinical outcomes, and even lower costs for the hospital and the patient. Although many foods have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, immune-modulating, or healing properties, this thesis focuses on fish oil, coconut oil, and turmeric as promising therapeutic foods for surgical patients.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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