• N Velasco, G Hernandez, C Wainstein, L Castillo, A Maiz, F Lopez, S Guzman, G Bugedo, A M Acosta, and A Bruhn.
• Hospital Clínico, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
• Nutrition. 2001 Nov 1; 17 (11-12): 907-11.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the effect of glutamine-supplemented polymeric enteral formulas on the recovery of gut-permeability abnormalities in critically ill patients.MethodsTwenty-three patients were randomized to receive a conventional casein-based enteral formula (ADN), ADN plus glutamine in a dose of 0.15 g x kg(-1) x d(-1) or ADN plus 0.30 g x kg(-1) x d(-1) of glutamine for 8 d. The lactulose mannitol permeability test (L/M) was performed at baseline and at the end of the study. Nineteen healthy volunteers served as controls for the L/M test.ResultsAn increase in permeability compared with control subjects was observed in patients at baseline (mean +/- standard error of the mean; L/M ratio: 0.11 +/- 0.03 and 0.025 +/- 0.004, respectively; P < 0.02). The L/M ratio improved after the period of enteral nutrition as a whole (initial L/M: 0.11 +/- 0.03, final L/M: 0.061 +/- 0.01; P < 0.03), but no difference was found between groups.ConclusionsEven though polymeric enteral nutrition was associated with a significant improvement in the L/M ratio, glutamine supplementation did not show a specific influence in improving recovery of gut permeability in critically ill patients.

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