Study shows giving critically ill patients extra protein has negative effects
The common practice of administering protein-rich food to critically ill patients in intensive care units does more harm than good, according to a study at five Belgian and five Dutch hospitals, published in medical journal The Lancet on Friday.
“Patients in intensive care lose muscle mass and muscle strength. Muscles contain proteins, which are lost and broken down,” professor Dieter Mesotten of Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg in Genk told Radio 1’s De Ochtend programme. Patients are usually given extra protein to compensate for this loss of muscle mass.
The study shows that supplementing protein does not compensate or slow down that loss, and people continue to lose muscle strength. Administering extra protein also leads to poorer quality of life in the longer term.
"We never thought it was going to be so markedly negative"
“We have seen that administering more protein than normal is going to prolong the time until discharge from hospital and cause more side effects, such as nausea and vomiting,” said Mesotten, co-leader of the study.
He is surprised by the results: “We never thought it was going to be so markedly negative.” He now expects policies on protein administration to change worldwide, he told Het Belang van Limburg. “Our study shows that doctors should be reluctant to administer protein-rich food to patients in intensive care, especially in the acute phase of critical illness.”
Administration of higher doses of protein should instead take place at a later phase, when the patient is able to get out of bed and rehabilitate.
#FlandersNewsService | File image of a patient in intensive care © PHOTO JOHN THYS/AFP
Related news
