Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 1999;3(5):R67-75.
doi: 10.1186/cc360. Epub 1999 Sep 17.

Nutrition in the intensive care unit

C Weissman  1
Affiliations
Review

Nutrition in the intensive care unit

C Weissman. Crit Care. 1999.

Abstract

Nutritional support has become a routine part of the care of the critically ill patient. It is an adjunctive therapy, the main goal of which is to attenuate the development of malnutrition, yet the effectiveness of nutritional support is often thwarted by an underlying hostile metabolic milieu. This requires that these metabolic changes be taken into consideration when designing nutritional regimens for such patients. There is also a need to conduct large, multi-center studies to acquire more knowledge of the cost-benefit and cost effectiveness of nutritional support in the critically ill.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hepatic gluconeogenesis is increased during stress. Sources of substrate include glycerol from lipolysis, alanine from proteolysis and lactate from anaerobic glycolysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Various types triglycerides are used in nutritional support. They differ in the types of fatty acids attached to the glycerol backbone. Structured lipids are currently under investigation. LCFA, long chain fatty acid; MCFA, medium chain fatty acid.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wolfe RR. Herman Award Lecture 1996: relation of metabolic studies to clinical nutrition: the example of burn injury. Am J Clin Nutr. 1996;64:800–808. - PubMed
    1. Thorell A, Nygren J, Hirshman MF, et al. Surgery-induced insulin resistance in human patients: relation to glucose transport and utilization. Am J Physiol. 1999;276:E754–E761. - PubMed
    1. Green CJ, Campbell IT, O'Sullivan E, et al. Septic patients in multiple organ failure can oxidize infused glucose, but non-oxidative disposal (storage) is impaired. Clin Sci (Colch) 1995;89:601–609. - PubMed
    1. Chiolero R, Revelly JP, Tappy L. Energy metabolism in sepsis and injury. Nutrition. 1997;13 (suppl 9):45S–51S. - PubMed
    1. Strommer L, Permert J, Arnelo U, et al. Skeletal muscle insulin resistance after trauma: insulin signaling and glucose transport. . Am J Physiol. 1998;275:E351–E358. - PubMed