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R M Ortega

Publications and source records attributed to R M Ortega.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Dietary assessment of a group of elderly Spanish people.

The dietary patterns of 60 elderly from Spain (37 women and 23 men) were examined by analysis of the food, energy and nutrient intake during 5 days. The caloric profile was somewhat unbalanced, since the percentage of total energy intake from proteins and lipids was above the recommended limit whereas the proportion of energy derived from carbohydrates was slightly deficient. The degree of underreporting derived by subtracting predicted total daily energy expenditure from self-reported energy intake obtained from a diet control during 5 days is 120 kcal/day in men and 334 kcal/day in women. More than 50% of the population showed intakes of pyridoxine, folates, vitamin A (only in men), vitamin D, vitamin E. zinc, magnesium and iron (only in women) lower than those recommended. Although it is likely that the real intakes of these micronutrients are higher than the levels measured considering the underreporting, the obtained results show the existence of a risk of deficiency of several nutrients. An increase in the energy intake of the group with a parallel increase in physical activity with a view to avoiding weight gain may be of use in improving the nutritional status of the group. This measure, together with increased consumption of vegetables and milk products especially, may lead to a striking reduction in illness, a finding that is of considerable clinical and public health importance.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Parental death from cardiovascular disease and dietary habits in an elderly group.

The present study examines the influence of parental history of death from cardiovascular disease on dietary habits and nutritional status of a group of seventy-two Spanish elderly. Those with at least one parent who had died of cardiovascular disease (43.1% of the cases) had higher diastolic blood pressure (P < 0.05) and nutrient intakes less favourable from the cardiovascular risk point of view than those whose parents died of other causes. Descendants whose parents died of cardiovascular disease had higher total fat, animal fat, saturated fatty acids, myristic acid and palmitic acid intakes and a lower monounsaturated fatty acids:saturated fatty acids value than descendants of those who died from other causes (all P < 0.05).

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Influence of smoking on folate intake and blood folate concentrations in a group of elderly Spanish men.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between smoking habits and folate status in a group of elderly Spanish men. DESIGN: We studied folate intake, serum and erythrocyte folate concentrations, hematological and biochemical data in 72 elderly males (comparing 24 smokers data with 44 nonsmokers ones). RESULTS: Percentage deficiencies for folate intake, serum and erythrocyte levels were higher in smokers. Serum folate levels were significantly higher in nonsmokers. Smokers had higher mean corpuscular volume than did nonsmokers. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking could be harmful to the intake and folate status. For smokers who will not give up the habit, improved dietary intake or a folate supplement is advisable.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Infant mortality in Michigan's child welfare system.

This article reports findings from a study on infant mortality in Michigan's child welfare system. The findings indicate that postneonatal death rates for infants in foster care placement from 1980 to 1989 are substantially higher than those in the general population. Although infants in the child welfare system are likely to be at greater risk, this article suggests that some of these deaths were preventable. Recommendations are made to address this problem as well as other policy issues raised by the data.

Child Welfare↗
PubMed1994

Dietary assessment of a pregnant Spanish women group.

Dietary habits were studied in 135 pregnant Spanish women. Their consumption of cereals, sugars, oils, vegetables, legumes and alcoholic drinks was lower, that of meat and eggs similar and that of fruit, milk and fish higher than the Spanish national average. The percentages for intakes lower than 100% of the recommended allowances, taking into account the dietary intake were 12, 23, 88, 8, 12, 34, 94, 2, 71, 98, 97 and 93% for thiamin, riboflavin, folates, vitamin B12, C, A, D, iodine, calcium, zinc magnesium and iron, respectively. If the supplements prescribed halfway through the pregnancy are added to the dietary provisions, the percentages for consumption below 100% of recommendation were considerably reduced. Furthermore, since the supplements prescribed did not include zinc or magnesium, there were 98% and 97% of pregnant women, respectively, with intakes below 100% of recommendations of these minerals. In the other cases the dietary intake plus the supplement are higher than the recommended amount. These imbalances may have harmful effects on the health of the women and their newborns and highlight the need for studying in depth the nutritional problems of pregnant women and for reconsidering the supplements that must be prescribed.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

[Nutrition and cardiovascular diseases in elderly people].

Older age is a vulnerable stage from the nutritional point of view. Nutritional deficiencies are frequent and their consequences serious. That is why restricting diets are dangerous and must be considered with precaution. Though in developed countries the number of elderly people is increasing, the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in this age group is based by extrapolating the recommendations set for adults of minor age, and this may be not correct. High cholesterol and saturated fat intakes are recognized as harmful, but diet restrictions can lead to other nutritional deficiencies that can be damaging in relation to cardiovascular diseases. To improve the diet can be of great help in this sense. Diet restrictions concerning one or more foodstuffs must be introduced with caution and control, watching the nutritional status of the elderly person. It must be avoided that the fight against cardiovascular diseases may lead to other nutritional deficiencies with similar or worse sanitary repercussions.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1994

[Influence of meat consumption in relation to various cardiovascular risk factors in the elderly].

It has been analyzed food intake, energy and nutrients, Quetelet index, blood pressure and lipid profile in 180 elderly people from Madrid (71 institutionalized and 109 free-living), in order to get the relationship between meat intake (< 150 or > or = 150 g/day) and the different risk factors from cardiovascular disease and other foodstuff intake. Those elderly people who eat 150 g/day or more (AC) take more food in general. There is a significant difference for meat and cereals, eggs, fruits, beans, and fish products. They have only a poor intake of dairy products when comparing with those who eat less than 150 g/day (BC). As a result of these differences in food habits, the AC group has a superior intake of energy and most part of other nutrients. Nevertheless, it was only significant the difference for the niacin and for percentage of energy derived from saturated fatty acid. There are no significant differences in blood pressure. AC elderly have more Body Mass Index and show serum lipids more satisfactory than the BC ones. High meat intake is not related to high risk from cardiovascular diseases in our elderly people group. The reason is that this high intake is associated with a better intake of other foods which give them, in general, a better nutritional status (with better intake of vitamins related to lipidic metabolism) which may be observed at biochemical level.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Relationship between iron status in pregnant women and their newborn babies. Investigation in a Spanish population.

We studied 157 pregnant women living in Merida, Spain, during their third trimester of pregnancy and their newborns at birth, analyzing the mother's and the umbilical cord's blood for hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), serum iron and serum ferritin. We observed statistically correlations between hemoglobin and hematocrit values of the mother with erythrocyte count, hemoglobin and hematocrit values of her child and between serum iron of mother and child. The blood levels in the umbilical cord did not decrease until the ferritin value of the mother was < 12 micrograms/l. Under these conditions the ferritin levels in the umbilical cord blood (80.4 micrograms/l) were significantly lower than in those newborn infants whose mother had adequate ferritin levels (123 micrograms/l). We deduce that maternal iron status seems to condition, at least partially, fetal iron status, specially when the mother has some deficiencies. We did not find a lower birth weight in children of anemic mothers. Actually, we found an inverse correlation between maternal hemoglobin values and infant birth weight (r = -0.1731, p < 0.05). It is possible that the demands on the mother are increased in the case of a newborn infant of greater size.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Influence of iron status on attention and intellectual performance of a population of Spanish adolescents].

Dietetic, hematologic and biochemical data were used to asses the iron status of a group of 64 adolescents (37 males and 27 females), aged 15 to 18 (mean age 15.94 +/- 0.76 years), who study in a High School in the comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. All were asked to keep a dietary record during 5 days, one of which had to be a sunday. Iron intake was estimated using the Food Composition Tables of the Instituto de Nutrición (1990). The hematologic survey determined hemoglobin hematocrit mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), serum iron and serum ferritin. These data were correlated with the scores obtained in the attention and school capability test (AT), that gave information about the verbal (V), reasoning (R) and calculus (C) capabilities. There is a positive correlation between MCV (r = 0.2705), MCH (r = 0.3370) ferritin (r = 0.3383) and attention. MCV (r = 0.2995), MCH (r = 0.3998), MCHC (r = 0.3134) and ferritin (r = 0.3970) were also correlated with the speed capability shown on the attention test and the hemoglobin level was correlated with the calculus capability (r = 0.2905). The students who obtained higher scores in the school capability test had also better blood parameter values. This was statistically significant for serum ferritin in males students and for hemoglobin and MCHC in female students. 19.6% of the adolescents had ferritin levels lower than 12 ng/ml. Their intelligence test scores were lower to those who had serum ferritin > or = 12 ng/ml.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Nutritional assessment of folate and cyanocobalamin status in a Spanish elderly group.

This study is part of a broader examination of the nutritional status of elderly people in Spain. Cyanocobalamin and folate status were determined in a group of 72 non-institutionalized elderly (34 males and 38 females), aged 65 to 89, living in the Comunidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain) by means of dietetic and biochemical data. We also studied the influence of the vitamin status on some haematologic parameters, as for example the MCV (mean corpuscular volume). Our results show that the average intake of vitamin B12 (6.3 +/- 0.9 micrograms/day) was three times the recommended amount, and that the blood levels were, in general, satisfactory (721.61 +/- 93 pg/ml). However, in 41.6% of the cases folate intake (213.8 +/- 92.4 micrograms/day) was below the recommended amount and serum (4.74 +/- 15 ng/ml) and red blood cells folate levels (115.37 +/- 36.7 ng/ml) also showed a deficient situation for 80% of the studied elderly. The influence of folate status on MCV of the studied elderly was evident. Elderly with MCV > or = 100 mu 3 (7.4% of the cases), had significantly lower intakes of folate (132.8 +/- 36.1 micrograms/day) and lower serum levels (3.93 +/- 0.4 ng/ml) than elderly with MCV < 100 mu 3 (who had intakes of 235.3 +/- 14.8 micrograms/day and serum levels of 4.81 +/- 1.48 ng/ml). Our results show that cyanocobalamin deficiency is not very frequent among the studied elderly, whereas folate deficiency has a great incidence and can have negative effects on their health.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

[Anthropometric evaluation of the nutritional status of a elderly group from Madrid (Spain)].

Body composition was assessed by means of anthropometry in a group of 75 elderly people (21 men and 54 women), aged 65 to 95 years (mean age 82.1 +/- 0.7) (x +/- SE), mean weight 58.5 +/- 1.7 kg and mean height 150.4 +/- 1.1 cm, which live in al Old People's Home in the Autonomic Community of Madrid. The average Quetelet Index 25.7 +/- 0.7 kg/m2 indicates a basically normal situation although there are 21% obese elderly with Quetelet over 30 kg/m2 and 12% of the cases with the index under 20 kg/m2. Even though the skinfold thickness in our population is inferior to the results obtained in other studies, the triceps skinfold is nearer the values given by other authors, and the suprailiac skinfold is completely different. This means that the elderly studied have less abdominal fat accumulation and more accumulation in arms and legs. This fat distribution can be beneficial in relationship to the risk of suffering several pathologies. Of the males, 15% and 22% of the females have their weight 25% and 30%, respectively, higher than their ideal weight. But there are also some of them with ponderal deficiency; by this means, 23% have 95% lesser than their ideal weight, indicating moderate malnutrition. A total of 16% have less than 85%, indicating medium malnutrition and 2 have less than 75% of the ideal weight, which is indicating of severe deficiency. With age, the measured height, weight, skinfolds, circumferences and diameters, the fat and lean body mass values decrease, the abdominal skinfold and the fat body mass decreasing significantly. Our results can contribute to increase knowledge as to the nutritional status and body composition of the Spanish elderly, and emphasize the coexistence of fat and ponderal excess with deficiencies of higher or lower importance.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

[Effect of nutrition on the functional capacity of a group of elderly Spaniards].

The present study analyzes the influence of the nutritional status on the functional capability of 11 institutionalized elderly living in Madrid (Spain). Nutritional status was evaluated by dietetic, anthropometric, hematological and biochemical data and functional status was evaluated considering adiposity, strength in hands and legs bent and stretched and flexibility. The most important nutritional problems that conditional functional wastages are obesity, hypercholesterolemia and protein and micronutrient deficiency. The adverse influence of obesity and hypercholesterolemia on the functional capacity of the elderly is shown by the inverse relationship between flexibility and strength in hands and legs with the adiposity degree, with the thickness of skin folds and the cholesterolemia. In reference to the diet's influence, there are positive correlations between food intake and most of the nutrients with hand and legs strength, and there are statistical significances for proteins, iron, zinc, magnesium and pyridoxine, and also for vitamin C, niacin, thiamin, folic acid and vitamin E. For blood values, the mayor correlation exists between functional parameters and iron, ferritin and vitamin C levels. Our results contribute to confirm the influence of nutrition on the functional capacity of the influence of nutrition on the functional capacity of the elderly and manifest the necessity of improving the elderly's diet, to prevent micronutrient deficiency and also the necessity of increasing their physical activity. Both measures will mean an important help for sanitary and functional improvement of the elderly.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Riboflavin status in a group of institutionalized elderly.

We studied the riboflavin intake and biochemical status in a representative sample (20 males and 52 females) of institutionalized elderly people (aged 68-95) living in the Autonomic Community of Madrid. The riboflavin density of the diet was in general higher than the recommended amount, so the quality of the diet, related to riboflavin, can be considered satisfactory, and probably the caloric deficit is the major cause of the low intakes found. We found no correlation between the intake and biochemical status of riboflavin. The elderly with erythrocyte glutathione reductase greater than 1.2 are not those who have lower intakes. The cause of the deficit could be the different malabsorption problems and diseases that affect people as age increases.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

[Nutritional status of marginated children of the Madrid's autonomous community, Spain].

The nutritional status of 101 institutionalized students aged 6 to 13 was assessed from the dietary and biochemical points of view. The children were pupils of a Youth Care Boarding School. The dietary survey revealed an adequate nutrient intake which met the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) in most cases as well as a high protein intake (250% of RDA). A slight deficiency in energy, zinc, magnesium and vitamins B2 and C was found in some cases in the eldest group. Blood parameters (erythrocyte counts, hematocrit, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular values, serum proteins, albumin, globulins, albumin/globulin ratio, urea and cholesterol) showed slightly lower values, mainly on hemoglobin, than those obtained from other similar groups. Nevertheless, urine parameters (nitrogen, urea, uric acid and creatinine) were higher, may be due to the high protein intake, energy deficiency and non-dietary factors such as lack of affection, socioeconomic problems, etc. All of these factors cause a rise in the students' catabolism. Correlations between dietary and biochemical data seem to corroborate that there is a shortage of energy, zinc, riboflavin, magnesium and vitamin C intakes in some cases, which limits the build up of several blood elements.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

[Efficacy of the protein of canned tuna (Thunnus alalunga) in animal growth].

The effect of the manufacturing process on canned tuna (Thunnus alalunga) by the sterilization procedure at 115 degrees C for 60 and 90 minutes on its protein quality was studied. Protein quality was mainly evaluated according to its efficiency for animal growth. Protein from food obtained by the sterilization procedure at 115 degrees C for 60 minutes was similar for animal growth to that from a standard casein-methionine diet. No changes in digestibility and biological values were found between both proteins. Nevertheless, when the sterilization procedure was prolonged up to 90 minutes, the protein suffered modifications. Thus, protein digestibility decreased in spite of the fact that protein digestibility remained unmodified. On the other hand, introduction of the mixed protein into a diet based on flour plus tuna sterilized at 115 degrees C for 90 minutes, was not capable of maintaining the optimum patterns for weight evolution.

Amino Acids, Essential↗
PubMed1986

Nutritional status of an institutionalised elderly group in Segovia (Spain).

The nutritional status of a randomly selected sample of healthy persons, aged 68-91 years, living in an institution of the Spanish Social Services, was evaluated according to the adequation of diet to Recommended Dietary Intakes (DR) and by biochemical measurements. The individual weighing method was used to make the control of food intake covering a week. Mean values obtained suggested that intakes were less than recommended ones for energy, calcium, magnesium, zinc, riboflavin, folic acid and A and D vitamins. Mean intake of protein, iodine, iron, thiamin, niacin, B12 and C vitamins was adequate. For biochemical data most of the individuals present acceptable values, only a few aged show a deficiency status. Serum vitamin A values were low in 13.3% of men and 37.5% of women and serum cholesterol values were high in 8.3% of women.

Aged↗