NutritionIntake
An actual food or nutritional intake: meal, supplement, parenteral nutrition. The MedicationStatement counterpart for nutrition.
Purpose
NutritionIntake documents what the patient actually consumed: in-room meals, oral supplements, parenteral nutrition in ICU. It feeds nutritional follow-up, drug–food interactions, and comorbidity management (diabetes, malnutrition).
Key elements
| Field | Type | Cardinality | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
identifier | Identifier[] | 0..* | External identifiers. |
status | code | 1..1 | `recorded`, `entered-in-error`, `not-recorded`. |
statusReason | CodeableConcept[] | 0..* | Status reason. |
code | CodeableConcept | 0..1 | Type (meal, snack, IV nutrition). |
subject | Reference(Patient | Group) | 1..1 | Consuming patient. |
encounter | Reference(Encounter) | 0..1 | Linked encounter. |
occurrence[x] | dateTime | Period | 0..1 | Intake moment. |
reportedBoolean | boolean | 0..1 | Self-reported. |
consumedItem | BackboneElement[] | 1..* | Consumed items (with quantities). |
ingredientLabel | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Ingredients (allergens, nutritional value). |
performer | BackboneElement[] | 0..* | Actors who served/observed. |
derivedFrom | Reference(Any)[] | 0..* | Data source. |
JSON example
{
"resourceType": "NutritionIntake",
"id": "example-dinner",
"status": "recorded",
"code": {
"coding": [{
"system": "http://snomed.info/sct",
"code": "182925005",
"display": "Eating dinner"
}]
},
"subject": {
"reference": "Patient/diabetic-12345"
},
"occurrenceDateTime": "2026-05-15T19:00:00+00:00",
"reportedBoolean": false,
"consumedItem": [{
"type": {
"coding": [{
"system": "http://snomed.info/sct",
"code": "227415002",
"display": "Brown rice"
}]
},
"nutritionProduct": {
"concept": {
"coding": [{
"system": "http://snomed.info/sct",
"code": "227415002"
}]
}
},
"amount": {
"value": 150,
"unit": "g"
}
}]
}Common pitfalls
- NutritionIntake vs NutritionOrder: Order = prescription, Intake = actual consumption.
- Missing amount: impossible to compute caloric intake.
- reportedBoolean=false when the patient self-reports: inconsistency.
Related resources
- nutritionorder — nutritional order.
- nutritionproduct — nutrition product.
- observation — nutritional biomarkers.
- allergyintolerance — food allergy.