• Clin Nutr · Aug 2001

    Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial

    Soluble fiber reduces the incidence of diarrhea in septic patients receiving total enteral nutrition: a prospective, double-blind, randomized, and controlled trial.

    • H Spapen, M Diltoer, C Van Malderen, G Opdenacker, E Suys, and L Huyghens.
    • Intensive Care Department, Academic Hospital, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium.
    • Clin Nutr. 2001 Aug 1;20(4):301-5.

    Background And AimsAttempts to control enteral nutrition associated diarrhea in the critically ill tube-fed patient by implementing feeding formulas enriched with fiber were mostly unsuccessful. Recently, it was shown that enteral feeding containing soluble partially hydrolyzed guar decreased the incidence of diarrhea in a cohort of non-critically ill medicosurgical patients. We investigated whether this type of enteral feed could also influence stool production in patients with severe sepsis, a population at risk for developing diarrhea.MethodsThe study was double-blind. Patients with severe sepsis and septic shock were consecutively enrolled and at random received either an enteral formula supplemented with 22 g/l partially hydrolyzed guar or an isocaloric isonitrogenous control feed without fiber. All patients were mechanically ventilated and treated with catecholamines and antibiotics. Enteral feeding was provided through a nasogastric tube for a minimum of 6 days. A semiquantitative score based on stool volume and consistency was used for daily assessment of diarrhea.Results25 patients fulfilled the criteria for data analysis. Soluble fiber was administered in 13 of them. The two groups were well-matched for gender, age, disease severity, cause of sepsis, laboratory parameters, total feeding days and time to reach nutritional goals. The mean frequency of diarrhea days was significantly lower in patients receiving fiber than in those on standard alimentation (8.8+/-10.0 % vs 32.0+/-15.3 %; P=0.001). The whole group of fiber-fed patients had less days with diarrhea per total feeding days (16/148 days (10.8%) vs 46/146 days (31.5%); P<0.001) and a lower mean diarrhea score (4.8+/-6.4 vs 9.4+/-10.2; P<0.001). The type of enteral diet did not influence sepsis-related mortality and duration of stay in the intensive care unit.ConclusionTotal enteral nutrition supplemented with soluble fiber is beneficial in reducing the incidence of diarrhea in tube-fed full-resuscitated and mechanically ventilated septic patients.Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.