Dietary choices of recovering alcoholics. 1982

L Yung, and E Gordis

Nutritional therapy can play an important role in the rehabilitation of an alcoholic. To teach these patients proper eating habits, we need to know what they eat and whether their dietary choices are nutritionally adequate compared to the recommended daily allowances (RDA). We investigated dietary choices of 70 recovering (abstinent) alcoholics who lived in a halfway house but who ate and worked elsewhere everyday. Diets were analyzed for calories, protein, B vitamins, vitamins A and C, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, iron and zinc. We found that these recovering alcoholics ate adequate amounts of all nutrients except for vitamin B6, magnesium, iron and zinc. With the exception of vitamin B6, the other three nutrients are also found to be low in the diets of the average population. We cannot say at present whether recovering alcoholics need more than the RDA for recovery, but we conclude that their freely chosen diet resembles that of non-alcoholic adult Americans.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008275 Magnesium Deficiency A nutritional condition produced by a deficiency of magnesium in the diet, characterized by anorexia, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, and weakness. Symptoms are paresthesias, muscle cramps, irritability, decreased attention span, and mental confusion, possibly requiring months to appear. Deficiency of body magnesium can exist even when serum values are normal. In addition, magnesium deficiency may be organ-selective, since certain tissues become deficient before others. (Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 12th ed, p1936) Deficiency, Magnesium,Deficiencies, Magnesium,Magnesium Deficiencies
D008297 Male Males
D008875 Middle Aged An adult aged 45 - 64 years. Middle Age
D009751 Nutritional Requirements The amounts of various substances in food needed by an organism to sustain healthy life. Dietary Requirements,Nutrition Requirements,Dietary Requirement,Nutrition Requirement,Nutritional Requirement,Requirement, Dietary,Requirement, Nutrition,Requirement, Nutritional,Requirements, Dietary,Requirements, Nutrition,Requirements, Nutritional
D005260 Female Females
D005518 Food Preferences The selection of one food over another. Food Selection,Food Preference,Food Selections,Preference, Food,Preferences, Food,Selection, Food,Selections, Food
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000090463 Iron Deficiencies Deficient amounts of iron in the body as a result of blood loss, diets deficient in iron, or an iron uptake or storage disorder. Hypoferritinemia,Iron Deficiency,Latent Iron Deficiency,Sideropenia,Deficiencies, Iron,Deficiencies, Latent Iron,Deficiency, Iron,Deficiency, Latent Iron,Hypoferritinemias,Iron Deficiencies, Latent,Iron Deficiency, Latent,Latent Iron Deficiencies,Sideropenias
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D000437 Alcoholism A primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterized by impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial. Each of these symptoms may be continuous or periodic. (Morse & Flavin for the Joint Commission of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the American Society of Addiction Medicine to Study the Definition and Criteria for the Diagnosis of Alcoholism: in JAMA 1992;268:1012-4) Alcohol Abuse,Alcoholic Intoxication, Chronic,Ethanol Abuse,Alcohol Addiction,Alcohol Dependence,Alcohol Use Disorder,Abuse, Alcohol,Abuse, Ethanol,Addiction, Alcohol,Alcohol Use Disorders,Chronic Alcoholic Intoxication,Dependence, Alcohol,Intoxication, Chronic Alcoholic,Use Disorders, Alcohol

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