title: Higher food intake and appreciation with a new food delivery system in a Belgian hospital. Meals on Wheels, a bedside meal approach: a prospective cohort trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A new system of meal distribution called Meals on Wheels, allowing food ordering at mealtime and providing guidance by trained nutritional assistants, might show benefit in offering nutritional support. This study investigates whether Meals on Wheels improves total food intake per day and yielded improved appreciation of food quality and increased access to food and mealtimes.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective cohort trial where control and intervention groups were taken from all patients hospitalized at the respiratory disease department, age, sex, BMI, admission weight, height, reason for admission and discharge weight were noted, as was food intake, supplements, waste per meal and daily total. For food appreciation the questionnaire developed by Naithani et al. was used. The study included 83 patients in the control group and 106 patients in the Meals on Wheels group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean total daily food intake was 236 g higher in patients in the Meals on Wheels than in controls. There was higher intake of oral nutritional supplements in the Meals on Wheels group compared to controls, resulting in significantly less oral nutritional supplements wasted. There was also significantly less waste in the Meals on Wheels group. For food access and appreciation, patients appreciated Meals on Wheels more than the old system in terms of choice, hunger, food quality and organization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Meals on Wheels resulted in higher food intake during each meal, less waste and better use of oral nutritional supplements. Patients appreciated Meals on Wheels more than the old system in terms of choice, hunger, food quality and organization.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Pneumology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Respiratory Medicine, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. pieter.goeminne@student.kuleuven.be
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Goeminne
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: De Wit
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burtin
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Valcke
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001066:Appetite; D001530:Belgium; D001835:Body Weight; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D002149:Energy Intake; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005522:Food Services; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018529:Nutritional Support; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires