Nutritional Support for Critically Ill Patients

Dear Colleagues,

In the high-stakes environment of the intensive care unit (ICU), nutrition often remains an underappreciated component of patient care. Yet, it is increasingly recognized that timely and individualized nutritional support is not merely supportive but therapeutic, influencing outcomes such as infection rates, length of stay, and mortality.

The recent literature has highlighted several critical challenges in ICU nutrition. A notable article, “Nutrition therapy for critically ill patients—Five key problems”, identifies persistent issues, including the immunologic background of catabolism, determining energy goals during the acute phase, quantifying endogenous energy production, assessing protein requirements, and the need for individualized nutrition therapy. These challenges underscore the complexity of providing effective nutritional support in critical care settings.

This Special Issue of Nutrients, titled “Nutritional Support for Critically Ill Patients”, seeks to address these challenges by bringing together research and clinical insights that can inform and improve nutritional practices in the ICU. We invite contributions that explore the following:

• Immunologic aspects of catabolism: understanding how critical illness induces catabolic states and how nutrition can modulate immune responses.
• Energy requirements during acute phases: investigating methods to accurately determine energy needs, considering endogenous energy production.
• Protein metabolism and requirements: evaluating optimal protein dosing strategies to mitigate muscle wasting and support recovery.
• Individualized nutrition therapy: developing approaches that tailor nutritional support to individual patient needs, considering factors such as disease state, metabolic response, and recovery trajectory.

Moreover, the integration of digital tools in nutritional assessment and monitoring presents new opportunities. For instance, smartphone-based applications have shown promise in facilitating nutritional risk screening and dietary assessments among hospitalized patients. Such technologies could enhance the precision and efficiency of nutritional interventions in critical care.

We also encourage submissions that examine the following:

• Micronutrient supplementation: the role of vitamins and trace elements in supporting immune function and recovery.
• Enteral and parenteral nutrition strategies: optimizing delivery methods to meet patient needs effectively.
• Long-term outcomes: assessing how nutritional interventions impact recovery beyond the ICU, including functional status and quality of life.

This Special Issue aims to serve as a comprehensive resource for clinicians, dietitians, researchers, and all healthcare professionals involved in the care of critically ill patients. By addressing the identified challenges and exploring innovative solutions, we hope to advance the field of critical care nutrition and improve patient outcomes.

We look forward to your contributions that will enrich this discussion and drive progress in nutritional support for critically ill patients.

Dr. Dimitrios T. Karayiannis
Dr. Zafeiria Mastora
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• critical care nutrition
• metabolic response
• protein requirements
• enteral nutrition
• parenteral nutrition
• individualized nutrition therapy
• catabolism in critical illness
• micronutrient supplementation