A doctor has praised the effectiveness of probiotics, saying they are an excellent complementary therapy which could reduce hospitalisation costs and should be considered a medicine, not just a supplement.
Long-term hospital patients receiving intensive care lose gut microbial diversity as researchers observe how potentially harmful microbes overwhelm the healthy gut microbiota.
Screening incoming patients for malnutrition and prompt initiation of an oral nutrition supplement program may shorten a patient's length of hospital stay by 25% and reduce the risk of readmission by 27%, says a new study.
Oral nutritional supplements provided to patients during hospitalisation is associated with significant reductions in length of stay and hospitalisation costs, according to economic research backed by Abbott Nutrition.
The majority of older patients admitted to hospital are malnourished or at risk of becoming malnourished. Yet the increased health risks and spiralling healthcare costs associated with this global problem are largely avoidable.
Medical nutrition solutions have been raised at a Nestlé Health Science-sponsored congress in Bilbao, Spain, where a study showed one in four Spanish hospital patients is malnourished.
Up to four in 10 people admitted to hospital in the UK are
undernourished and doctors need to do more to improve the
situation, according to a new report from the Royal College of
Physicians.