Dietary Fiber In Clinical Enteral Nutrition

Objective To evaluate the effects of dietary fiber (DF) as a part of enteral nutrition formula on diarrhea, infection and length of hospital stay. Methods Search the following electronic databases for randomized controlled trials about DF: Chinese Biomedicine Database (CBM), MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register. Applied RevMan 4.1 for statistical analysis.Results Seven randomized controlled trials with 400 patients were included. Five trials compared the supplement of DF in enteral nutrition with standard enteral formula, combined analysis did not show significant reduction in occurrence of diarrhea, but there is valuable result for non-critically ill patients. Combined analysis of two trials observing the infection also did not show valid evidence that DF could decrease the infection rate, though the length of hospital stay reduced significantly.Conclusions Based on the current eligible randomized controlled trials, there are no evidences to prove the value of DF in the diarrhea but for non-critically ill patients. Though length of hospital stay shortened by the useof DF, there are no available evidences in preventing infection by DF. Furtherstudies are needed for evaluating the value of DF in enteral nutrition.