Enhancing nutritional care with egg white supplementation on serum albumin level for home-based bed-ridden elderly patients | Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007 Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer Open Menu Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007 Home Food Science Publisher Functional Food Center Current Archives About About the Journal Aims and Scope Contact Editing Services Editorial Team Express Peer Review Graphical Abstract Journal Insights Privacy Statement Submissions Announcements Search Search Register Login Home / Archives / Vol. 12 No. 6 (2022): June 2022 / Research Articles Enhancing nutritional care with egg white supplementation on serum albumin level for home-based bed-ridden elderly patients Authors Preeyabhorn Detarun Center of Excellence in Functional Food and Gastronomy, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90110, Thailand Vatcharee Srichamnanturakit Center of Excellence in Functional Food and Gastronomy, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90110, Thailand Sang-arun Isaramalai Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai Campus, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90110, Thailand Thaparat Rakpanusit Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus, Muang, Pattani 94000, Thailand DOI: https://doi.org/10.31989/ffhd.v12i6.932 Abstract Background: Low serum albumin levels are one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in humans, particularly in older bed-ridden patients. Egg whites contains all the essential amino acids required, and it has many beneficial effects on the body. Supplementation with an egg white formula diet is expected to improve nutritional status and increase levels of serum albumin. Objective: This research aimed to investigate the effects of the egg white formula diet (EWFD) supplement on serum albumin levels in bed-ridden elderly patients with nasogastric tube feeding at home. Methods: The experiment was designed as a quasi-experimental study with one single-sample group in 25 bed-ridden elderly patients who are > 60 years old, and were purposefully selected from a district in a Province in Southern Thailand. The experiment was divided into 2 periods (the control and experimental). The control period covered the first 8 weeks where the caregivers provided the usual care and administered the commercial liquid formula to the bed-ridden elderly subjects. The experimental period covered the following 8 weeks, where the caregivers provided the usual care, commercial liquid formula, and EWFD supplementation. Demographic data was collected using a data assessment form. The effect of EWFD supplement on blood albumin levels in the bed-ridden elderly persons were measured at baseline (T0), control (T8), and experimental period (T16). Results: Serum albumin levels at T0 in subjects who received the usual care program was an average of 3.46±0.35 g/dL. The average serum albumin level at the control period (T8) was 3.56±0.44 g/dL, while after the experiment (feeding including egg white for 8 weeks) was 3.72±0.45 g/dL. The serum albumin levels significantly increased compared to the control and experimental periods (p= 0.042)  Conclusion: Enhancing nutritional care through egg white supplementation improved the serum albumin levels in bed-ridden elderly patients at home. It is therefore recommended that the longitudinal study design should be implemented to monitor and maintain the serum albumin, which consequently promotes the patients’ nutritional status.   Keywords: nutritional status; bed-ridden elderly; nasogastric tube feeding; bed-ridden; egg white; serum albumin; muscle mass Downloads [Abstract] [Full Article] Published 2022-06-23 Issue Vol. 12 No. 6 (2022): June 2022 Section Research Articles License Authors retain the copyright of their articles and grant the Functional Food Center (FFC) and its journals the right of first publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, including commercial use, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors may post and share their published work freely, provided that the original publication in this journal is acknowledged. 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