Heart Disease: Nutrition Essay

Heart diseases such as heart failure are a growing epidemic in the modern world, with a heavy presence in the developed world. A large number of people in the modern times live with the condition, which means that intervention protocols are necessary. With the number growing every year, nursing profession has become an important field in managing the condition.Heart Disease: Nutrition Essay

Nutrition is one of the best intervention protocols that have proved effective in managing heart diseases. In fact, the right nutrition has proved effective in managing and sometimes treating the condition. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze nutrition in heart disease in three perspectives- nutrition assessment, nutrition interventions and nutritional education for patients.

Nutritional assessment

In humans, the adult heart has extreme metabolic demands because the heart requires high supply of energy needed for blood pumping. In fact, the heart pumps approximately 5 liters of blood per minute when a person is at rest and up to 24 liters per minute when one is in vigorous activity. In addition, the heart does not stop working throughout the life of an individual.Heart Disease: Nutrition Essay

Therefore, the energy demands are extremely high. In this case, the main source of energy is the fatty acids (Lee, Jarreau, Prasad, Lavie, et al., 2011). However, the heart can easily utilize carbohydrates as well as fatty acids at the same time. First, these products must be converted into the energy molecule known as the Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), which is then hydrolyzed by the heart muscles as energy.

These nutrients are needed to supply the heart with energy through renewal of enzymes and elements with lipids, fatty acids and amino acids that are obtained from the diet. In addition, the patients need micronutrients such as thiamine, taurine amino acids, vitamins, carnitine, co-enzymes, omega-3 fatty acids and others. Patients with cardiac diseases have deficiency of these nutrients, which means that the nurse must ensure that they are included in the diet.Heart Disease: Nutrition Essay