Overview
Fortifying your diet
Important
This information is produced for adults under the care of Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals. We usually give you the information after an assessment or appointment. Your dietitian or other healthcare professional may give you different guidance, depending on your specific medical needs.
It is important to check with a healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet. Please contact your dietitian if you have any questions or concerns.
If you are not a patient at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals, please contact a GP or specialist healthcare professional.
You can improve the nutritional content of your food without increasing the quantity or size of your meals. By fortifying your diet, you can:
- help to prevent weight loss
- encourage weight gain
When you have met your treatment goal, you can return to your usual diet.
If you have an extra 500 calories a day, this can help you gain up to 0.5kg or 1lb a week.
This information:
- gives you practical tips to fortify your diet
- explains how to fortify your milk
- suggests examples of savoury and sweet foods to fortify your meals, snacks and drinks
Tips to fortify your diet
Here are some practical tips to fortify your diet:
Do
- Choose full-fat and full-sugar* products rather than diet, low fat or healthy eating varieties. They give you more calories.
- Try eating little and often. Smaller portions and snacks are easier to manage.
- Add oil, butter, cream, cheese, mayonnaise or plant-based varieties into savoury options, such as mashed potato, soups or scrambled eggs.
- Add sugar, honey, jam*, cream or dried milk power into sweet options, such as porridge, rice pudding or custard.
- Serve meals with a sauce or accompaniment. Try a rich gravy, cheese or white sauce with your main meal, and custard, cream, ice cream or plant-based options with your dessert.
- Drink nourishing fluids*, such as fruit juice, smoothies, fortified milk or milkshakes.
- Have high-calorie snacks in between meals, such as nuts, dried fruit or biscuits.
*If you have diabetes, you will need to continue to choose sugar-free options. However, you can have a moderate amount of food that contains sugar as part of a fortified diet. Speak to your GP, nurse or diabetes team for more information.
How to fortify your milk
To fortify your milk, follow these steps:
- Add 2 to 4 heaped tablespoons of dried milk powder to 1 pint of milk.
- Stir until the dried milk powder is dissolved.
- When you have made the fortified milk, keep it in the fridge.
- Use the fortified milk as normal on your cereal, in tea or coffee, or as a drink on its own.
Another option is to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of single cream to milk.
Foods to fortify meals, snacks and drinks
This section suggests examples of savoury and sweet foods that you can add to suitable meals, snacks and drinks.
Savoury options
You can use these savoury options to fortify your diet:
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of meat or vegetarian pâté
- 2 heaped tablespoons of dried milk powder
- 30g or a small handful of grated cheese or plant-based cheese
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of cream cheese or plant-based cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise or plant-based mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons of salad cream or plant-based salad cream
- 2 cubes (about 14g) of butter or plant-based butter
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons of ground nuts
- 3 tablespoons of hummus (a paste made from crushed chickpeas, oil and lemon juice)
- 2 tablespoons of pesto or plant-based pesto
Sweet options
You can use these sweet options to fortify your diet:
- 1 small pot of full-fat yoghurt or plant-based yoghurt
- 2 tablespoons of condensed milk
- 125ml custard or plant-based or dairy-free custard
- 1.5 tablespoons of double cream or plant-based cream
- 2 scoops of ice cream or plant-based ice cream
- 1.5 tablespoons of jam
- 2 tablespoons of lemon curd
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 1.5 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of golden syrup
- 2 tablespoons of chocolate sauce
More information
You may find it helpful to watch the following video tutorials on how you can create nourishing meals, snacks and drinks using food fortification:
Resource number: 4065/VER5
Last reviewed: February 2026
Next review: February 2029
