Enteral nutrition – where are we today in pharmaconutrition?

Abstract

Summary. Enteral nutrition formulas have been created over the past several decades with a variety of intended uses. Over the past two decades, the focus has shifted to the administration of pharmacologically active substances, such as different amino acids and their metabolites, ω-3 fatty acids, nucleotides and antioxidants in an attempt to modulate the inflammatory or immune response and affect clinical outcomes. Although some pharmaconutrients have clearly demonstrated the ability to potentiate, antagonize, or otherwise modify metabolic functions, despite the large volume of clinical research in this area, undoubted benefit of immunomodulating diets in certain clinical settings was difficult to prove. Potential explanations for discrepancies include variable effects of individual nutrients dependent on dose, nutrient interactions, timing of delivery and different metabolic needs of heterogeneous patient population. The purpose of this review is to cover potential beneficial physiological mechanisms for some common individual pharmaconutrients and briefly describe some of the current clinical data regarding their use.