Clinical Nutrition
Summary
Clinical nutrition is the application of nutritional science to the prevention, diagnosis and management of disease. It encompasses assessment of a patient’s nutritional status; formulation of tailored dietary plans; implementation of enteral and parenteral feeding when oral intake is insufficient; and ongoing monitoring in both acute and chronic care settings. Central to the discipline are strategies for addressing undernutrition and overnutrition, optimising nutrient delivery in surgical, oncology, renal and critical‐care populations, and integrating dietary interventions into the management of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders and liver disease. By combining rigorous nutritional assessment tools with evidence‐based feeding protocols and multidisciplinary collaboration, clinical nutrition aims to improve clinical outcomes, reduce complications and shorten hospital stays. Globally, its importance is reflected in the rising demand for specialist dietetic services, the development of national nutrition policies and the inclusion of nutrition support as a key component of modern healthcare delivery.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Recent mechanistic work has resolved how trivalent chromium exerts anti‐hyperglycaemic effects at the cellular level. High‐resolution proteomic imaging revealed that Cr(III) localises to mitochondria and binds the β‐subunit of ATP synthase, suppressing its activity and thereby activating the energy sensor AMPK. This cascade enhances glucose utilisation and protects mitochondrial morphology under hyperglycaemic conditions, with corresponding improvements in rodent models of type 2 diabetes.
A population‐based cohort study has introduced an exposome score to capture combined lifestyle and environmental factors—diet, activity, sleep, air pollution and socioeconomic status—and linked this composite measure with longitudinal changes in serum lipid and amino‐acid metabolites from childhood into adolescence. The composite score predicted novel metabolite–exposure associations that were not detected by individual factors alone, illustrating the value of integrated exposure assessment for early identification of metabolic risk.
In a nationally representative sample of children and adolescents, tri‐ponderal mass index (weight/height³) was compared with BMI z-score for predicting elevated blood pressure. Both indices correlated with hypertension risk, but BMI z-score exhibited superior discrimination across sex and age groups, reinforcing its role in paediatric screening for cardiometabolic risk within clinical nutrition practice.
Clinical Nutrition publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in clinical nutrition across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Enteral nutrition: Delivery of nutrients directly into the gastrointestinal tract via feeding tubes, used when oral intake is inadequate but gut function is preserved.
Parenteral nutrition: Intravenous administration of macronutrients and micronutrients to patients who cannot tolerate enteral feeding or have severe malabsorption.
Malnutrition screening: Systematic assessment of nutritional risk in clinical settings, often using validated tools to identify patients who may benefit from dietetic intervention.
Indirect calorimetry: A technique measuring oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production to estimate a patient’s resting energy expenditure for precise nutritional prescription.
Nutrition support team: A multidisciplinary group—comprising dietitians, physicians, pharmacists and nurses—that oversees complex feeding protocols and monitors metabolic complications.
References
- Nutrition Guide for Physicians and Related Healthcare Professionals.
- Mitochondrial ATP synthase as a direct molecular target of chromium(III) to ameliorate hyperglycaemia stress. Nature Communications (2023).
- Longitudinal associations of an exposome score with serum metabolites from childhood to adolescence. Communications Biology (2024).
- Associations between tri-ponderal mass index, body mass index, and high blood pressure among children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study. Scientific Reports (2023).
- Recommendations for Designing, Conducting, and Reporting Feeding Trials in Nutrition Research. Advances in Nutrition (2024).
- The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2022 – principles and methodologies. Food & Nutrition Research (2020).
About these summaries
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