Guideline Of The German Society For Nutritional Medicine (Dgem) Dgem Terminology For Clinical Nutrition

Purpose: The nomenclature in clinical nutrition differs locally, between (para)medical disciplines, nationally and internationally. The inconsistencies hamper public, professional and scientific discussions. The main aim was to work out German consensus definitions for pertinent terms in clinical nutrition to unify their use in all chapters of the 2013 guideline update Clinical Nutrition of the German Society of Nutritional Medicine (DGEM). It should facilitate correct interpretation of recommendations.Methods: The definitions were developed based on national and international hard print technical literature (medical dictionaries, text books for clinical nutrition, national and international guidelines) and online research (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Internet in general). National and international consensus definitions were preferentially treated.Results: In total 46 definitions were developed and organised in five categories: 1. General definitions (clinical nutrition, medical nutrition, care catering, dietetics, nutritional support, nutrition support team, obesity team, nutrition steering committee, malnutrition screening, nutritional assessment), 2. Nutritional status (disease-related malnutrition, cachexia, sarcopenia, specific nutrient deficiencies, refeeding syndrome), 3. Interventions (nutritional care, nutrition, diet, regular diet, fortified food, artificial nutrition, oral nutritional supplementation, enteral nutrition = tube feeding, parenteral nutrition, dietary advice, nutritional intervention/therapy, nutritional support therapy, nutrition intervention/therapy plan), 4. Products/techniques for oral nutritional supplementation and enteral nutrition (tube feeding techniques, oral nutritional supplements and enteral formulae, nutritionally complete formulae, nutritionally incomplete formulae, whole protein formulae, peptide-based formulae, elemental formulae, standard formulae, disease specific formulae), 5. Products/techniques for parenteral nutrition (parenteral techniques, total parenteral nutrition, partial parenteral nutrition, home parenteral nutrition, total nutrient admixture, multi-chamber systems, multi bottle systems).Conclusion: For the first time, a comprehensive, science-based terminology for clinical nutrition was created, which is to support the communication among experts and formulating guidelines.