Nutritional support and gastrointestinal disease.

The use of nutritional support in patients with acute gastrointestinal disease requires a thorough knowledge of the pathophysiology and nutritional alterations that are caused by the disease process. Although nutritional therapy of a patient with gastrointestinal disease is not curative of the underlying disease, it does provide essential support to the patient, which improves response to, and eventual recovery from, illness. Special considerations need to be made to avoid complicating the patient's condition by inappropriate use of nutritional support solutions, which can lead to abnormal liver function.