Enteral nutrition
The term EN is used to comprise all forms of
nutritional support that imply the use of ‘‘dietary
foods for special medical purposes’’ as defined in
the European legal regulation of the commission
directive 1999/21/EC of 25 March 1999,
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indepen-dent of the route of application. It includes oral
nutritional supplements (ONS) as well as tube
feeding via nasogastric, nasoenteral or percuta-neous tubes. This definition differs from definitions
used in many other publications where ‘‘EN’’ is
rather used for tube feeding only regardless if
blenderized food or specific industrial products are
used. This decision was based on the fact that many
studies dealing with EN report on both ONS and
tube feeding. Furthermore, prescription and re-imbursement of EN is in many countries dependent
of the use of industrial products rather than the
route of application. EN is part of a qualified
nutritional regimen in the in- and outpatient
setting, and usually one of the tasks of profes-sionals with special training in EN or the nutritional
support team.