Meals and Nutrition Administration

Please find the following information on this page.

Roles of the Nutritional Management Center

Basic policy of the Nutritional Management Center, Hokkaido University Hospital

The Nutritional Management Center aims to improve the effect of treatment and the quality of life (QOL) of patients through proper management of nutrition and food hygiene.

Objectives

Provision of safe food to patients by applying thorough hygiene control
Provision of appropriate nutrition administration for individual clinical conditions
Participation in team medical care
Pursuit of expertise and the promotion of clinical research

Provision of hospital diets

Diets suitable for individual patients are provided under the instruction of doctors and dentists.

Types of diets

Sixty types of general and special diets are provided in 175 different patterns.
General diets include regular diets (weaning diets, infant diets, child diets, school-age child diets (early and late), adult diets (male and female), and pregnant woman diets), soft diets for those with oral or swallowing problems (100% rice gruel, 50% rice gruel, chopped and paste food, etc.), liquid diets (rice water, thick liquid) and diets for training to swallow.
Special diets include diets for specific diseases (diabetic diets, renal disease diets, etc.), post-surgery diets, pretest diets (low residue diet, iodine-restricted diet, etc.) and sterile diets.
General diets are meals by age, gender and constitution of patients, based on the Japanese Dietary Reference Intakes by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour. Special diets are direct therapeutic measures that meet dietary requirements specified by the physician to cope with diseases. Most diets are based on indicators set by special academic societies such as the Diabetes Society and the Nephrology Society.

A five-week cycle menu is used (except in case of certain diet types).

Regarding general diets, a selective menu is used, and patients can select from two options for breakfast and dinner, except in case of festive meals on the year-end and New Year holidays and some other special occasions.

Some patients receiving special diets can also select from two options for breakfast only (the selective menu, whether for general or special diets, requires a service charge of 50 yen per meal). Seasonal festive meals are served on New Year’s Day, Coming-of-Age Day, Girls’ Day, Christmas, etc.


Selective menu (breakfast)	Festive meal

Dysphagia diets

In case of difficulty to chew and swallow food and liquids due to various causes, including cerebrovascular disorder, progressive neuropathy or head and neck cancer, it is called dysphagia.
The Nutritional Management Center provides eight levels of dysphagia diets according to the patient’s condition, from jelly-based diets at first, through paste diets for training to swallow (thickened liquid) and soft diets.


Paste diet	Soft diet

Meal times

Breakfast	8:00 a.m.
Lunch	Noon
Dinner	6:00 p.m.

Staff of the Nutritional Management Center

At the Nutritional Management Center, 11 nutritionists and 121 cooks work to provide nutritional care and prepare meals.

Nutritional assessment and administration

Registered dieticians use a computer system to check the nutritional status of inpatients every day.
They visit inpatients at the bedside as necessary to adjust meals and provide nutritional advice. A nutritional assessment may also be performed through body component analysis (insertape, adipometer, and BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis)).

BIA(InBodyS20(R))

Insertape (measurement of circumferential length of the upper arm)

Adipometer (measurement of subcutaneous fat of the triceps brachii muscle

Nutritional consultation

At Hokkaido University Hospital, patients who require dietary therapy can receive nutritional advice as ordered by a doctor.
During the nutritional advice, a registered dietician explains the dietary therapy and supports the patient to maintain and improve his/her medical state.
Advice is given to inpatients once or twice during their stay and to outpatients once every one or two months to check the efficacy of the dietary therapy and support their efforts.
Nutritional consultations are provided for patients with various diseases and disorders, including diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, hyperuricemia, dyslipidemia, liver disease, pancreatic disease, inflammatory bowel disease, discomfort after surgery, discomfort after transplant, allergies, inborn error of metabolism and anorexia.
Classes for diabetics and renal disease patients: diet therapy classes for medical patients who are hospitalized to receive education. Classes are provided during their hospital stay.

Nutritional consultation (Monday through Friday, by appointment only)
Consultation hours	First time: 1 hour		9:00 a.m. – noon	1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m
	Second and subsequent times: 30 minutes	8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

NST (Nutrition Support Team)

At Hokkaido University Hospital, a multi-disciplinary team provides nutritional care for patients based on the philosophy, “nutritional administration is the basis of treatment.” With the objectives, “appropriate nutritional support” and “oral intake as far as possible,” doctors, dentists, registered dieticians, pharmacists, nurses, clinical technologists, speech-language-hearing therapists and other specialists work together.

Lectures and nutritional education for interns and trainees

Education is provided for interns and trainees. They may participate in nutritional consultations and ward visits.

Notice on Publication

The Nutritional Management Center has published a recipe book to improve lifestyle-related diseases (metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hyperuricemia). The title of the book is “Delicious Healthy Meals of Hokkaido University Hospital” (published by The Hokkaido Shimbun Press). The book contains hospital meals for inpatients and dishes that have won prizes at the First Hokkaido University Hospital Recipe Contest. We hope this book will help people who want to prevent disease, those who are prone to develop a lifestyle-related disease and those who already have a disease, to improve their condition.