nutritional disorders
Overview of Nutritional Support
Key Points
Behavioral measures may avert the need for nutritional support. Predict the patient's energy requirements based on weight, sex, activity level, and degree of metabolic stress (eg, due to critical illness, trauma, burns, or recent surgery). Normal protein requirement is 0.8 mg/kg/day, but this amount is adjusted if age is > 70 or if the patient has kidney failure or metabolic stress. Assess the response to nutritional support by indicators of lean body mass and/or other indicators (eg, nitrogen balance, response to skin antigens, muscle strength measurement, levels of acute-phase reactant serum proteins). 