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Food ingested by elderly patients living in hospital was measured and intake of nutrients calculated. Portion sizes provided and quantities eaten were both substantially smaller than those reported in previous studies. The hospital diet provided daily 4.78 MJ (1140 kcals), 44 g protein and 17 mg ascorbic acid. Mean ‘plate wastage’ for individual components varied from 23% for mashed potatoes to 66% for Brussels sprouts. The resulting daily ingestion of energy, protein and ascorbic acid by a group of 30 patients was 3.13 MJ, 29 g and 11 mg, respectively. The ‘nutritional content’ of the hospital diets examined was compared with that of several nineteenth century hospital diets for which data are available.
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Jones et al. (1988) studied this question.
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