The concept of nonprotein calories has been used in a variety of ways by
nutrition support clinicians. Nonprotein calories may refer to the combined
energy from lipid and carbohydrate but are also used to describe the balance
between energy and protein in the form of the nonprotein calorie-to-nitrogen
ratio. Nonprotein calories have been used as the basis for calculating
nutrient needs, but this practice is no longer recommended as it may result in
overfeeding. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nonprotein calorie
concept using a clinical scenario and review of the literature.
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