Abstract
We investigated whether intervention with antioxidant vitamins C and E in enteral feeding influenced oxidative stress and clinical outcome in critically ill patients. Two-hundred sixteen patients expected to require at least 10 days of enteral feeding completed the study. One-hundred five patients received enteral feeding supplemented with antioxidants, and 111 control patients received an isocaloric formula. Plasma lipoperoxidation (by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances [TBARS] and prostaglandin F2α isoprostane levels), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidizability, and LDL tocopherol content were determined at baseline and at the end of the 10-day period. The clinical 28-day outcome was also assessed. Plasma TBARS and isoprostanes were 5.33 ± 1.26 nM/mL and 312 ± 68 pg/mL, respectively, before treatment and 2.42 ± 0.61 nM/mL and 198± 42 pg/mL after intervention (p < .01 for both comparisons). Antioxidants improved LDL resistance to oxidative stress by approximately 30% (the lag time before treatment was 87 ± 23 minutes and was 118 ± 20 minutes after treatment; p < .04). There was a significantly reduced 28-day mortality after antioxidant intervention (45.7% in the antioxidant group and 67.5% in the regular-feeding group; p < .05). Isoprostanes may provide a sensitive biochemical marker for dose selection in studies involving antioxidants.
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