A change for the better Available to Purchase

Many hospital patients are referred to the dietitians for advice on how to change their diet in order to alleviate a specific ailment or to prevent it getting worse. It is self‐evident that such people will be much more strongly motivated to respond to the advice on dietary changes than the population as a whole. The object of this study was to determine the degree of difficulty encountered by patients who were recommended to reduce the fat content in their diet by using a number of different strategies. If such individuals encounter difficulties in making the changes, then it is reasonable to assume that the approach would be ineffective with those who are less motivated. By contrast, approaches which are successful could be useful for consumers as a whole. If the guidelines put forward by NACNE and largely reiterated by COMA are to be successfully implemented then the identification of easily adopted strategies is a first priority.