Nutrition and Hydration
Nutrition is an important part of a patient’s overall health. In this section you will find resources that can be downloaded and links to useful websites.
Prescribing Guidelines by Clinical Area
Nutrition is an important part of a patient’s overall health. In this section you will find resources that can be downloaded and links to useful websites.
General Practitioners are reminded that the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances recommends products on the basis that they may be regarded as drugs for the treatment of specified conditions.
Information for Care Homes - Dietetics
The British Dietetic Association (BDA) have produced menu planning and food service guidelines for care homes for older adults
PrescQIPP have produced a resource to support food fortification for those caring for people who have been identified as being at risk of malnutrition, or who are malnourished. It is likely to be particularly useful for those working in, or supporting care homes for older adults, but could also be used to support people living in their own homes.
A simplified version of the recipe book that can be shared with care home caterers and is also endorsed by the National Association of Care Catering.
Handouts to support a food first approach can be found below and on Patient Webinars.
- British Dietetics Association – Malnutrition Factsheet
- Nourishing Drinks
- 100 Calorie Boosters
- Making Every Mouthful Count
- Keeping Healthy on a High Calorie Diet
- Basic Store Cupboard Ideas
- British Dietetic Association – Carer Information: eating and drinking at end of life
- Nourishing Recipes (Somerset Resource)
- Plant Based Nourishing Recipes (Somerset Resource)
The NHS is delivering a new programme which provides a low-calorie diet treatment for people who are overweight and living with type 2 diabetes. The programme is based on the DiRECT study which showed that this approach could help people lose weight, improve their diabetes control, reduce diabetes-related medication and even achieve remission (whereby blood glucose levels return to normal without the need for medication). Somerset has been chosen as a pilot site for interested participants. See Low calorie Diet Programme Teamnet page.
Dr David Unwin’s Sugar Infographics help people understand the approximate effect various foods may have on their blood sugar in terms of a 4 gram teaspoon of sugar. For example, a bowl of 150g of boiled rice is roughly equivalent to ten teaspoons of table sugar.
Freshwell Low Carb Project - Meal Planners provides inspiration and recipes to make it a little easier to adopt a low carbohydrate lifestyle. All meal planners can be downloaded as a PDF for free and are also available on the free Freshwell App. The Freshwell Guide provides a visual representation of the low carb lifestyle. See also Deprescribing in Type 2 Diabetes Following a Low Carbohydrate Diet.
See our Diabetes page for more information and resources.
Please follow Speech and Language Therapy treatment plan. See the Somerset Prescribing Formulary for formulary choices.
From the 1st of December 2016, NHS Somerset has made all Gluten Free products non-formulary (the Somerset formulary advises GPs on safe, evidence-based cost-effective prescribing).
Therefore, the GPs will no longer prescribe all Gluten Free products on prescription.
Gluten free products are now more widely available from shops and supermarkets for you to purchase instead, either in person or via online delivery and the price of these products continues to decrease.
You may also decide to replace some gluten free products previously provided on prescription such as GF pasta with alternative naturally gluten free products such as rice and potatoes.
Gluten free resources and advice on cooking and baking can be found at the Coeliac UK support website:
Home of Gluten Free Recipes – Inspiration and tips for gluten free cooking – Coeliac UK
Living gluten free FAQs – Coeliac UK
Your local community pharmacy can order gluten free products for you to purchase if there are particular brands you wish to keep as part of your diet. However, these may well be more expensive than equivalent products available from supermarkets and other shops.
Information for people who maybe at risk of dehydration
NHS Somerset Keeping Hydrated leaflet for preventing urinary tract infections
Staying hydrated is important for our health and wellbeing leaflet.
For information on Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA) and infant nutrition, including breastmilk fortification for premature infants, please see the Infant Feeding page.
More information coming soon on premature infant nutrition.
For more information on iron deficiency, please see the 9.1 – Anaemias – Somerset Prescribing Formulary page for formulary choices.
Ferric maltol for the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in adults
NICE CKS Management of anaemia – vitamin B12 and folate deficiency
Guidance within the NICE Vitamin B12 deficiency in over 16s: diagnosis and management NG 239 March 2024 Sets out how to identify and manage B12 deficiency. Please see the NHS Somerset formulary 9.1 – Anaemias for formulary options available.
More information can be found on B12 and folate deficiency on the Pregnancy and Lactation pages.
Metformin and reduced vitamin B12 levels: new advice for monitoring patients at risk MHRA June 2020
Summary of guidelines for the supplementation and blood monitoring of bariatric surgery patients
BOMSS post-bariatric surgery nutritional guidance for GPs
Information on contraception after surgery can be found on the NHS Somerset Contraception page.
Patient Webinars are reliable nutrition information from qualified health professionals in Somerset.
