Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care
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The pleotropic effects of vitamin D on chronic diseases have received significant attention; however, its role in acute illness is less understood. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current evidence regarding the role of vitamin D in acute stress and critical illness. ⋯ Single-point assessments of 25-hydroxyvitamin D following acute stress may provide an inaccurate assessment of vitamin D status. In such cases, measurement of binding proteins and free vitamin D metabolites may be essential to create a more realistic approximation of vitamin D status. Variations in patient responses to acute stress and critical illness may depend not only on the degree of systemic vitamin D insufficiency, but also on the individual tissue requirements.
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Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care · Nov 2012
ReviewDo we need to take calcium with vitamin D supplements to prevent falls, fractures, and death?
The 2011 report by the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) on dietary reference intakes for calcium and vitamin D is based on meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), which concluded that vitamin D supplements need to be taken with calcium supplements to prevent falls, fractures, and all-cause mortality. This study reviews recent meta-analyses of RCTs of vitamin D supplementation to determine whether their conclusions are consistent with the meta-analyses underpinning the IOM report. ⋯ The inconsistency in the conclusions from meta-analyses is due to limitations in the design of previous RCTs of vitamin D supplementation. Large RCTs, giving higher doses of vitamin D (without calcium), should provide a clear answer within several years as to whether vitamin D supplements are beneficial by themselves.
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Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care · Nov 2012
ReviewNutritional targets to enhance exercise performance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
This review presents current knowledge regarding the rationale and efficacy of nutrition as an ergogenic aid to enhance the effects of exercise and training in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). ⋯ There is a clear need for adequately powered and controlled intervention and maintenance trials to establish the role of nutritional supplementation in the enhancement of exercise performance and training and the wider management of the systemic features of the disease.
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In the last year, several meta-analyses focused on the potential clinical benefits of perioperative immunonutrition in surgical patients. Purpose of this review is to summarize their results and to draw recommendations about the current indication of immunonutrition in surgery. ⋯ In the light of these findings the use of perioperative immunonutrition should be implemented in patients undergoing elective major GI surgery. This should result in a considerable reduction in both postoperative morbidity and costs for healthcare systems.Larger trials are required before recommending immunonutrition as a routine practice in head and neck surgery.
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Nutrition risk assessment is of great importance to identify patients who may benefit from nutritional intervention to prevent ICU starvation and avoid side-effects of nutrition care. The full spectrum of nutrition risk assessment in ICU has not been defined in guidelines. ⋯ Safe and efficient nutrition care may only be obtained when gastrointestinal function and metabolic tolerance of nutrients are regularly assessed.