Ln conclusion lchm formulae seem to improve cardio-vascular risk factors in diabetic patients buy fail (possibly due to the short duration of most studies ) to show clinical benefits.
Which formular should be used for blood glucose control in icu-patients ?
Ln hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus lchm (low carbohydrate high mufa ) formulae have a more neutral effecet on glycaemic control than standard formulae however in the icu setting where strict glycaemic control with the use of exogenous insulin is achieved relatively easily when stan dard or icu-specific formulae are used there is no reason to believe that such formulae would be required.
Recently a large randomized controlled clinical study of eared to as the leuven study provided relevant nutritional insight the effect of strict maintenance of normoglycaemia (blood glucose between 80 and 110 mg/dl) with in tensive insulin therpy during intensive care was comparedwith the conventional regime which recommended insulin only when glycemia exceeded 215 mg/dl although conventionally treated patients revealed only mildhyperglycamia (mean blood glucose of 150-160 mg/dl ) insulin titration to blood glucose levels below 110 mg/dl reduced hospital mortalty by 34% the duration of mechanical ventilation and icu stay the incidence of bacteraemia excessive inflammation organ failure and critical illness polyneuropathy were also significantly reduced. The benefit of intensive insulin therapy was particularly pronounced among patients with prolonged critical illness requiring intensive care for more than 5 days with mortality reduced from 20.2% to 10.6% the study showed that maintaining blood glucose below 110 mg/dl is crucial in order to obtain a maximum benefit disproving the notion that a threshold level of 144 mg/dl would suffice ln the leuven study best evidence nutrition protocols were applied en was attempted as early as possible and in order to achieve a preset target of total energy intake parenteral supplements were given when needed resulting in patients being fed equally in both study groups energy intake was increased from an average of 7 nonprotein kcal/kg bw/d on day 1-23 kcal/kg bw/d on day 7 resulting in a mean intake of 19 kcal/kg bw/d the average nitrogen intake ranged from 0.15 to 0.19 mg/kg bw/d the improvements in outcome were entrirely attributed to the tight glycaemic control with insulin and the amount and route of feeding this is in agreement with the knowedge that underfeeding by omitting lipids or by delivering hypocaloric parenteral nutrition neither prevents hyperglycaemia nor its infectious complications exclusively parenterallyfed patients required substantially more insulin in order to achieve normoglycaemia than those receiving en this is explained by the effect of en on incretin-mediated endogenous insulin release and may indicate that some of the potentialrisks of parenteral nutrition are due to its higher hyperglycaemic potential. When insulin is titratedto achieve normoglycaemia this of parenteral nutrition disappears.