Chapter 23 – Nutritional supplements in wound care

Chronic wounds affect a growing number of Americans, leading to reduced quality of life and causing a significant cost burden to the patient and to society as a whole. During a normal wound healing scenario, a wound will proceed through a well-organized progression of inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling to return form and function to an injury site. Proper nutrition status is required for this process to proceed to completion, whereas many wound patients suffering from malnutrition exhibit compromised healing outcomes. Often, chronic wounds result from unresolved inflammation, preventing the wound from continuing on the normal wound healing trajectory. In addition to meeting recommended macronutrient and micronutrient intake needs, there has been considerable work done in the area of functional foods and nutraceuticals as treatments to help reduce inflammation and promote wound healing. In this chapter, we describe the current spectrum of etiology and burden of chronic wounds as well as give an overview of the normal wound healing process, and where it often gets stalled in a proinflammatory phase. We aim to give a sampling of nutritional and nutraceutical interventions currently being studied that aim to address the issue of unresolved inflammation. By promoting the resolution of inflammation, it is thought that the normal wound healing progression may be restored, allowing for better wound outcomes.