The current Truth on Nutrition in ICU

Nutrition in critically ill patients remains a topic often discussed and often debated on. The input you will get by all sorts of different experts is almost endless and I sometimes got the impression we don’t know that much after all. This short article in Intensive Care Medicine of this month (e-published in Nov. 2013) very nicely shows you what we at least believe at this moment to be the truth about nutrition in the ICU.

It’s nice and short and gives a very good overview on our current knowledge in this field...

... an excellent introduction for physicians entering the area of Intensive Care for the first time.


Singer P et al.Intensive Care Med. 2014 Feb;40(2):252-5


       Take Home Messages:

• Start enteral feeding as soon as possible
• Avoid over-nutrition (Propofol also has calories!)
• Equitations for energy needs are frequently inaccurate
• Patients with ICU stay <4 days or when likely to resume digestive capacity within 5 days should not be given parenteral nutrition
• Glutamine is recommended in parenteral feed >10d and when patient not in MOF 
• Treat blood glucose conventionally
• Do not measure gastric residual volume

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