Enteral Nu tri tion in Clin i cal Prac tice

Enteral nu tri tion has, at long last, found its place in the mod u la tion of dis ease. Be cause o f its im por tance in terms of both an a bo lic and cat a bolic pro cesses, to day's cli ni cian must have a work ing knowl edge of the type s of enteral for mu la tions, their de liv ery and the ther a peu tic con sid er ations (par tic u larly con com i tant med i ca tions) th at im pact on the safety and ef fi cacy of enteral nu tri tion. The ad van tages and dis ad van tages of this ther a peu tic in ter ven tion m ust be care fully weighed by the cli ni cian, in con cert with sound med i cal prin ci ples. De spite the wide spread be lief that enteral nu tri tion is su pe rior to parenteral nu tri tion in hu mans, data does sug gest that there is lit tle dif fer ence be tween the two. Also, as so ci ated costs of enteral nu tri tion in con trast to parenteral nu tri tion need to be re ap praised based on more in va sive enteral ac ce ss and fall ing parenteral nu tri tion prices. Al though the enteral route is pre sumed to be the best feed ing mo dal ity, the cli ni cia n must be ever vig i lant about the short com ings of us ing the gut, es pe cially in the set ting of se vere in flam ma tion, ste no s is or sep sis. The best feed ing mo dal ity, then, must blend a knowl edge of the pa tients' anat omy, phys i ol ogy, and dis ease with con sid er ations of enteral ac cess, tim ing of de liv ery, com pli ca tions, and a myr iad of other ther a peu tic vari ables (to in clude con cur rent med i ca tion ad min is tra tion) that im pact on the enteral feed ing reg i men. This ar ti cle re views the ba sic prin ci ples of enteral nu tri tion in clin i cal prac tice. It de scribes nu tri tional as sess ment, routes of ad min is tra tion, se lec tion of feed ing for mu las based on nu tri tional needs, in ter ac tions with med i ca tions, as well as pos si ble com pli ca tions of enteral feed ing.