Effect of an elemental diet on body composition. A comparison with intravenous nutrition.

Measurements of changes in body fat, protein, and water were carried out on two comparable groups of 14 ill surgical patients each over 2-wk period during which one group received an elemental diet (nonprotein energy source was 67% carbohydrate and 33% fat) and the other a course of intravenous nutrition (nonprotein energy source was 100% carbohydrate). The patients fed with the elemental diet had no significant changes in body weight, fat, protein, water, or plasma proteins over the study period, and although the patients fed intravenously also had no changes in body protein or plasma proteins, there was an average gain of 3.2 kg of body weight. This weight gain was mainly extracellular water. It is concluded that the administration of the elemental diet by continuous infusion was comparable to intravenous nutrition in maintaining body protein in these very ill patients and had the advantage of being cheaper and easier to manage. The problem of extracellular water accumulation seen in the patients fed intravenously was not present in the patients who received the elemental diet.