[Nutrition of the critically ill - is less more? How much energy for the ICU patient?].

Decreased nutritional intake or preexisting malnutrition is associated with increased morbidity and mortality during hospital stay. However nutritional support in particular for the ICU patient is not trivial. Hyperalimentation in the acute phase of critical illness but also hypoalimentation in the chronic and stable phase of illness has to be avoided. Ideally about 25 kcal/kg/d should be targeted over a few days during metabolic monitoring. Alternatively indirect calorimetry should be applied where available.