IMPORTANCE OF MENU PLANNING BY A NUTRITIONIST IN A HOSPITAL FOOD AND NUTRITION UNIT: CASE STUDY

Abstract

Food and Nutrition Unit is defined as an establishment capable of producing and providing adequate and balanced meals, with a view to maintaining and recovering the health of the public. The menu is an extremely important instrument and must be prepared by a professional nutritionist. This study discusses the stages of menu planning, serving as a knowledge tool. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explain the importance of menu planning by a nutritionist in a hospital food and nutrition unit. This study is a case study prepared during the Mandatory Supervised Internship in a public hospital Food and Nutrition Unit. To prepare this study, articles were searched in the Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS), through the Virtual Health Library (VHL), based on the Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS): Menu Planning , Collective Food, Nutritionists. During this period, the lunch menu was planned, qualitatively and quantitatively, obtaining data on a high-protein diet (29.64%), normolipidic (28.75%) and normoglycidic (41.62%), meaning that they were within the recommended range. Allowed Dietetics of estimated values, whose Total Adequacy percentage was 100.01%, with parameters between 90% and 110% of the recommendation being considered adequate. The execution of this mandatory supervised internship, in food and nutrition services, served as a basis for complementing academic training and future modeling of ethical-professional behavior and responsibility of the professional nutritionist throughout the unit, including menu planning.