Nutrition reviews
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The role of certain nutrients that seem to have pharmacologic effects on immune and inflammatory parameters has been studied over the last two decades. This area of research is called immunonutrition. ⋯ The rate of infectious complications and length of hospital stay was decreased in those receiving immunonutrients compared with patients receiving no nutritional support. The role of the individual components of this immunonutrition and the clinical trials of similar combinations in surgical gastrointestinal cancer patients are reviewed.