Requirements and Utilization of Macronutrients in Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition in Acute and Chronic Diarrhea

In most infants and children, the symptoms of acute diarrhea resolve over the course of a few days, but in a small proportion, diarrhea persists and becomes protracted. Protracted diarrhea has been denned as more than four watery stools per day for longer than 2 weeks. The definition of chronic diarrhea is a little controversial. Most experts find this diagnosis appropriate when the infant or child has had diarrhea for 1 month or more. Whatever is the cause and pathomechanism of acute, protracted, and chronic diarrhea, the long-term consequences of the latter two diseases are the inadequate nutrition and impaired growth and organ development of the digestive organs, liver, circulatory organs, and brain. These perils have become more and more obvious in recent years and have led the medical world to focus particular attention on the availability, transport, and utilization of principal nutrients in diarrheal disease of developing human subjects. The aim of this short chapter is to discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of nutritional support to patients with acute and chronic diarrhea with particular emphasis on protein, energy, and macronutrient requirements.