Immune-enhancing enteral formulas: are they beneficial in critically ill patients?

Over the last decade there has been considerable interest in the use of specific nutrients to alter the metabolic response to injury and infection, to improve immune function, and to prevent or reverse the severe catabolism and wasting of the lean body mass that accompanies critical illness. In this review, representative animal studies and, when available, human studies examining the potential benefits of these individual nutrients are summarized. The overview of basic investigations is by no means all-inclusive, and the emphasis of this manuscript is a review of the currently available clinical trials examining the potential benefits of combinations of these individual immunity-enhancing nutrients in human patients.