Enteral feeding and nutrition, has become a major advance to feeding patients with temporary or permanent gastrointestinal function and has only be around for about thirty years. To promote understanding it should be known that feeding tubes in the gastrointestinal tract are referred to as enteral feeding, but when nutrition is supplied to the patient venously it is known as parenteral nutrition.

Companies that manufacture nutritional supplements have developed chemically defined diets that provided all the essential nutrients in a predigested form. Protein and carbohydrates are basic building blocks, with amino acids and glucose, and also contain minimal amounts of fat sufficient only to meet basic dietary requirements along with all the essential vitamins and minerals necessary to promote proper nutritional value. Continue reading »