NUTRITION IN CRITICAL PATIENTS   Free access

Minerva Anestesiologica 1999 June;65(6):471-4

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Enteral nutrition: just a fuel or an immunity enhancer?

Bistrian B. R.

Clinical Nutrition, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Based on a ­review of ran­dom­ized, con­trolled clin­i­cal ­trials, enter­al feed­ing ­improves sep­tic mor­bid­ity in crit­i­cal­ly ill and/or mal­nour­ished ­patients. Enteral feed­ing may be bet­ter ­than paren­ter­al feed­ing, but a defin­i­tive ­study is not avail­able. Immune-enhanc­ing ­diets fur­ther ­improve sep­tic mor­bid­ity in crit­i­cal­ly ill and/or mal­nour­ished ­patients. Active com­po­nents iden­ti­fied ­include argi­nine, glu­ta­mine, and ome­ga-3 ­fats, but the rel­a­tive effi­ca­cy of any sin­gle ­immune inhanc­ing com­po­nent ver­sus ­their com­bi­na­tion is impos­sible to ­state ­based on the pres­ent­ly avail­able evi­dence.