Essential Amino Acids as Immunonutrition in Critical Illness: Time for Trials?

Abstract

The derangement of both innate and adaptive immune responses of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) led to the use of Immuno Nutrition Formula (INF) to reduce the risk of infection complications. While the observed findings might appear beneficial to high-risk surgical patients, they do not support the routine use of INF in medical ICU patients. In our opinion the inconsistent results from clinical trials might be due to the lack of Amino Acids (AA), in particular the Essential Amino Acids (EAAs), that patients receive either from a general nutrition support and from INF formula which does not contain EAAs. To