Clinical Nutrition

Current Research in Clinical Nutrition

Clinical nutrition is nutrition of patients in health care. Clinical in this sense refers to the management of patients, including not only outpatients at clinics, but also (and mainly) inpatients in hospitals. It incorporates primarily the scientific fields of nutrition and dietetics. Among the routes of administration, the preferred means of nutrition is, if possible, oral administration. Alternatives include enteral administration (in nasogastric feeding) and intravenous (in parenteral nutrition).

Clinical nutrition is the practice of analysing if a person is consuming an adequate amount of nutrients for good health. A clinical nutritionist is concerned with how nutrients in food are processed, stored and discarded by your body, along with how what you eat affects your overall well-being. Professionals in this field assess your nutritional needs based on your family and medical history, lifestyle and laboratory tests in order to make recommendations on your diet and individual nutritional needs. A clinical nutritionist may provide advice on changes to your diet that may help prevent disease.