Nutritional interventions in critical illness

Nutritional support in critical illness.

Critically ill patients, almost by definition, are catabolic and often hypermetabolic. Although it is generally accepted that such patients would benefit from nutritional support, there are remarkably little data to support this premise. Several experts believe that prospective, randomized, controlled studies to document the efficacy of nutrition support in improving outcome in critically ill p...

Nutritional interventions in sarcopenia: a critical review.

The aim of the present paper is to critically review the details of the published nutrition intervention trials, with and without exercise, targeting sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass, strength and/or performance with age. Since amino acids and energy are required for muscle synthesis it is possible that nutritional intake influences sarcopenia. Nutritional studies are challengi...

Critical windows for nutritional interventions against stunting123

An analysis of early growth patterns in children from 54 resource-poor countries in Africa and Southeast Asia shows a rapid falloff in the height-for-age z score during the first 2 y of life and no recovery until ≥5 y of age. This finding has focused attention on the period -9 to 24 mo as a window of opportunity for interventions against stunting and has garnered considerable political backing ...

Critical windows for nutritional interventions against stunting.

Myopathies in critical illness: characterization and nutritional aspects.

Myopathies related to critical illness have received increasing recognition over the past decade and are common in patients even after a brief period in the intensive care unit. Recent studies have revealed that myopathies in the critically ill may in fact be more prevalent than neuropathies and that morbidity and mortality may be greater. Protein catabolism, an increase in urinary nitrogen los...