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Glutamine: A Gut Essential Amino Acid

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Gut Dysfunction in Critical Illness

Abstract

The fact that nutritional support cannot completely abolish the increase in morbidity and mortality observed in nutritionally depleted patients [1] has resulted in the development of completely new “organ specific nutrients” with the purpose to increase host defense mechanisms. Each of these nutrients has its specific effect on a certain target organ [2]. In evaluating nutritional modulation, it is necessary to realize that the effect on overall clinical outcome is very difficult to assess and requires large numbers of patients. Therefore, the clinical relevance of a specific nutrient has to be assessed by studying effects in its target organ, eg the gut. This chapter discusses the effect of one of these “new” nutrients, glutamine, on the intestine.

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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van der Hulst, R.R.W.J., von Meyenfeldt, M.F., Soeters, P.B. (1996). Glutamine: A Gut Essential Amino Acid. In: Rombeau, J.L., Takala, J. (eds) Gut Dysfunction in Critical Illness. Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, vol 26. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80224-9_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80224-9_22

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