Nutritional evaluation of therapeutic diets for cardiovascular diseases in hospitals of General Santos City, Philippines: A comparative cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Objective@#This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional adequacy and compliance with cardiovascular disease (CVD) guidelines in therapeutic diets implemented in four hospitals in General Santos City, Philippines. @*Methods@#The study employed a cross-sectional study and analyzed the one-day therapeutic menus of four hospitals using the Philippine Food Composition Table and the United States Department of Agriculture nutrient database. The nutrient contents calculated in this study were compared among hospitals and benchmarked against the Philippine Dietary Reference Intakes (PDRI) and CVD-specific guidelines, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC). The nutrient adequacy ratios (NARs) and the corresponding mean (SD) values were used to interpret the data.