What is Enteral Nutrition?
Enteral Nutrition is a special liquid food composition of nutrients like protein, vitamins, carbohydrates, fats, and minerals, supplied through a feeding tube into the body, which helps prevent malnutrition. Enteral feeding is achieved with the help of feeding tubes inserted through different parts of the body. When people, including infants, children, and adults, are able to get sufficient nutritional support by utilizing the tube feeding process.
Features of Enteral Nutrition
- Enteral nutrition is a complete nutritional formula for tube feeding or oral supplementation.
- Tube feeding allows adults or children for direct intake of sustenance through the abdomen into the stomach.
- The components of enteral nutrition include carbohydrates, protein, fat, and minerals that meet one’s nutritional requirement.
- The lactose-free enteral feeding solutions are prepared in liquid form, including Isocal and Osmolite provide a complete, balanced diet.
When is Tube Feeding Nutrition used?
A few conditions in which tube feeding is crucial are: ·
- Head and Neck Cancers: Enteral tube feeding is a conventional means of delivering enteral nutrition to individuals with head and neck cancer receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
- Neurological Difficulties: Enteral feeding helps in the nutritional management of individuals with neurological disorders who are unable to eat or drink directly from their jaws. Enteral Nutrition understands and manages nutritional needs in such conditions or ailments.
- Traumatic Injuries: In order to give complete care for people with traumatic conditions who are in need of enteral nutrition can be fulfilled with help of Enteral pump feeding.
- Gastrointestinal Diseases: the important nutrients required by people with gastrointestinal diseases can be taken from enteral nutrition which prevents the risk of nutritional breakdown.
Where to buy Enteral Nutrition?
At HPFY, we carry a wide range of enteral nutrition products like Nestle Nutrihep Enteral Nutrition for Hepatic Patients, Nutricia KetoCal 4:1 Nutritionally Complete Powdered Medical Food, Nestle Nutren 1.5 Complete Calorically Dense Liquid Nutrition from top manufacturers like Nestle Nutrition, Nutricia North America, Kate Farms Inc, and many more. Shop from us and get reward dollars on every purchase. Reward Dollars can be used on your next purchase. Order now!
FAQ's
Frequently asked questions
- Check the expiry date of your formula. Unopened cans of formula can be stored at room temperature for long periods of time
- Cover open cans of formula and store them in the refrigerator between feedings. Do not use any open, unused cans of formula after 24 hours
These feeds contain all the carbohydrate, protein, fat, water, electrolytes, micronutrients (vitamins and trace elements) and fibre required by a stable patient.
These contain nitrogen as short peptides or free amino acids and aim to improve nutrient absorption in the presence of pancreatic insufficiency or inflammatory bowel disease. The fibre content of these feeds is variable and some are supplemented with vitamin K, which may interact with other medications.
Nutrients such as glutamine, arginine and essential omega-3 fatty acids are able to modulate immune function. Enteral immunonutrition may decrease major infectious complications and length of hospital stay in surgical and some critically ill patients.
- Re-feeding syndrome occurs in previously malnourished patients who are fed with high carbohydrate loads.
- Carbohydrates (eg, glucose) in the feed can cause a large increase in the circulating insulin level. This results in a rapid and dramatic fall in phosphate, potassium and magnesium - with an increasing extracellular fluid (ECF) volume.
- As the body tries to switch from catabolic (starvation mode) to using exogenous fuel sources, there is an increase in oxygen consumption, increased respiratory and cardiac workload (may precipitate acute heart failure and tachypnoea and make weaning from a ventilator difficult). Demand for nutrients and oxygen may outstrip supply. Both of the above can lead to multiple organ failure; respiratory and/or cardiac failure, arrhythmias, rhabdomyolysis, seizures or coma, red cell and/or leukocyte dysfunction.
- The gut may have undergone some atrophy with starvation and, with the return of enteral feeding, there may be intolerance to the feed, with nausea and diarrhoea.
- Feeds should be started slowly and the electrolytes closely monitored and adequately replaced to avoid these problems developing.
