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Metabolic Kitchen and Dietary Consultation The Metabolic Kitchen and other nutrition services are available to investigators with approved CRC projects. The Metabolic Kitchen staff and research dietitian provide clinical research participants with meals that are scheduled and prepared in accordance with research protocols. The research dietitian designs menus to meet the needs and specifications of the research protocol and study participants. The types of diets or meals produced in the metabolic kitchen include nutrient-controlled, weighed, and metabolic meals. These meals can be controlled for single nutrients or several nutrients/ components at a time. Most controlled diets are planned and managed using ProNutra diet analysis software. ProNutra utilizes the USDA's Standard Release Database. All meals are prepared by dietary technicians trained in the preparation and monitoring of controlled and metabolic diets. When requested, the diet technicians routinely record intake of meals consumed by participants (weigh-back) and prepare homogenates or food aliquots as needed. In addition to controlled meals, the metabolic kitchen staff prepare regular meals and snacks for clinical research participants according to protocol needs. For example, often regular meals or snacks are scheduled at the end of a study procedure or visit that requires the study participant to arrive fasting. Meals may be "packed out" or served on the CRC unit to best suit the research protocol and participant needs. Meals served on the CRC unit may be served in the CRC's participant dining room. Staff is available to serve scheduled meals 7am to 3:30pm Monday through Friday. For studies that require "packed out" or take-home meals the investigator may make arrangements for participants to pick-up multiple days of meals at a time. This arrangement should be made prior to study implementation. The Metabolic Kitchen is a dedicated hospital kitchen that includes extensive storage facilities for bulk purchase of supplies. All food and non-food supplies are procured from local foodservice vendors, grocery stores, and other food distributors. The cost of food and supplies for meals and snacks is the responsibility of the researcher, and the researcher is billed according to usage and study specific food/meal costs. For very intensive protocols, full personnel support may not be possible and cost sharing with other funding for personnel may be necessary. Investigators contemplating grants that will require substantial dietary resources should consult the CRC staff prior to grant preparation to determine whether additional support for supplies and personnel should be requested. Other nutrition services offered for protocol support include participant diet instruction, education, and counseling; dietary data collection such as diet history, diet recalls, assistance selecting and administering food frequency questionnaires; participant instruction for and collection of food records; and computerized nutrient analysis of food records and recalls using Food Processor SQL. The CRC Bionutrition area is also pleased to precept UAMS dietetic interns and graduate nutrition students. Consultation is available by appointment with the research dietitian for questions regarding protocol design, dietary data collection, and dietary preparation of subjects. For questions or further information about CRC nutrition services contact the Research Dietitian.
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