Importance and benefits of nutritional support:
Disease-related malnutrition adversely affects clinical outcomes in different conditions
Malnutrition is frequently triggered by certain diseases.
Most common diseases associated with malnutrition are:
- Gastrointestinal diseases (e.g. inflammatory bowel disease/IBD)
- Pulmonological diseases (e.g. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/COPD)
- Oncological diseases (e.g. gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, head & neck cancer)
- Alzheimer’s disease
Malnutrition decreases quality of life.
Malnutrition leads to higher healthcare costs.
Benefits of nutritional support in malnourished patients:
- May help increase body weight
- May preserve / improve muscle strength
- Helps improve physical activity
- Can help diminish inflammation
- Can improve quality of life