Measuring and Monitoring Lean Body Mass in Critical Illness

Measuring and Monitoring Lean Body Mass in Critical Illness

Methods to monitor lean body mass in the ICU are under constant development, improving upon bedside usability and offering new modalities to measure. This provides clinicians with valuable markers with which to identify patients... read more

Oxygen: Savior or Devil in a Green Dress?

Oxygen: Savior or Devil in a Green Dress?

If you ask any small child what doctors do or what happens in a hospital, you'll probably get some variation of "they make sick people better." Were you to ask the same question of one of those doctors or someone working... read more

Excess dietary zinc worsens Clostridium difficile infection

Excess dietary zinc worsens Clostridium difficile infection

The consumption of dietary supplements and cold therapies containing high concentrations of zinc is now being called into question, following research that suggests it may worsen Clostridium difficile infection. The findings... read more

When Should Nutritional Support Be Implemented in a Hospitalized Patient?

At the time of admission to the hospital, malnutrition is already present in over 20% of patients. Hospitalized patients are particularly susceptible to developing malnutrition because of increased catabolic states in acute... read more

Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis in ICU Patients Receiving Enteral Nutrition

Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis in ICU Patients Receiving Enteral Nutrition

Our results suggested that in patients receiving enteral feeding, pharmacologic SUP is not beneficial and combined interventions may even increase the risk of nosocomial pneumonia. We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane... read more

Consensus Statement on Nutrition Screening and Therapy Within a Surgical Enhanced Recovery Pathway

Consensus Statement on Nutrition Screening and Therapy Within a Surgical Enhanced Recovery Pathway

Perioperative malnutrition has proven to be challenging to define, diagnose, and treat. Despite these challenges, it is well known that suboptimal nutritional status is a strong independent predictor of poor postoperative... read more

Enteral vs Parenteral Nutrition in Critical Care Requiring Mechanical Ventilation

Enteral vs Parenteral Nutrition in Critical Care Requiring Mechanical Ventilation

Enteral feeding was not superior to parenteral feeding for early nutritional support in critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation and vasopressor support for shock, according to the results of a study published... read more

Supplemental Parenteral Nutrition vs. Usual Care in Critically Ill Adults

Supplemental Parenteral Nutrition vs. Usual Care in Critically Ill Adults

This individually titrated supplemental PN strategy applied over 7 days significantly increased energy delivery when compared to usual care delivery. Clinical and functional outcomes were similar between the two patient groups.... read more

Nutrition Therapy – One Size Does Not Fit All

Nutrition Therapy – One Size Does Not Fit All

A review paper published in Critical Care highlights the importance of employing targeted nutritional care for critically ill patients. The sad truth, according to the article, is that current ICU nutrition delivery worldwide... read more

Probiotics Offer Powerful Protection Against Sepsis in Infants

Probiotics Offer Powerful Protection Against Sepsis in Infants

Sepsis can occur in just about anyone, including infants. Recent research shows feeding newborns probiotics (healthy bacteria) significantly lowers the child's risk of developing sepsis. The study involved infants in rural... read more

Hospitalist Tackles Chronic Disease With Food Pharmacies

Hospitalist Tackles Chronic Disease With Food Pharmacies

Before January 2017, Rita Nguyen, MD, was "pretty much like any other academic hospitalist," she says. In the hospital, she could provide excellent care to patients, but once they were discharged, many didn't have the necessary... read more

Early goal-directed nutrition in ICU patients (EAT-ICU)

Early goal-directed nutrition in ICU patients (EAT-ICU)

Extensive weight loss has been documented in intensive care unit (ICU) survivors, primarily as the result of muscle loss, leading to impaired physical function and reduced quality of life. The aim of the EAT-ICU trial is... read more

Knowledge of Constituent Ingredients in Enteral Nutrition Formulas Can Make a Difference in Patient Response to Enteral Feeding

Knowledge of Constituent Ingredients in Enteral Nutrition Formulas Can Make a Difference in Patient Response to Enteral Feeding

The selection of an EF should be a conscientious process based on a number of factors, including the patient's clinical and medical status. The ingredients need to be carefully evaluated in their quality and quantity as they... read more

Dietitians in Critical Care

Dietitians in Critical Care

Patients in the critical care setting are at risk of malnutrition. The provision of nutrition support (enteral or parenteral) to critically ill patients is vital, but achieving the optimum quantity and balance is a contentious... read more

Hypovitaminosis C and vitamin C deficiency in critically ill patients despite recommended enteral and parenteral intakes

Hypovitaminosis C and vitamin C deficiency in critically ill patients despite recommended enteral and parenteral intakes

Critically ill patients have low vitamin C concentrations despite receiving standard ICU nutrition. Septic shock patients have significantly depleted vitamin C levels compared with non-septic patients, likely resulting from... read more

Dr. Paul Wischmeyer Brings Humanity To Medicine

Dr. Paul Wischmeyer Brings Humanity To Medicine

Dr. Paul Wischmeyer's journey to becoming an internationally-renowned critical care and perioperative nutrition researcher and clinician began at the age of 15 when a bout of strep throat and a prescription for antibiotics... read more

Initial Nutritional Management During NIV and Outcomes

Initial Nutritional Management During NIV and Outcomes

Patients starting noninvasive ventilation (NIV) to treat acute respiratory failure are often unable to eat and therefore remain in the fasting state or receive nutritional support. Nearly three-fifths of patients receiving... read more