History of parenteral nutrition

Abstract

A survey is given of the development of parenteral nutrition with the beginning of William Harvey's fantastic discovery of the circulation to today's discussion of what is an optimal regime of parenteral nutrition. The important and different steps of development during the 17th and 19th centuries are discussed. The modern steps during the last century leading to the concept we have today of parenteral nutrition is mentioned, with reference to all pioneers all over the world. Glucose, protein hydrolysates and crystalline amino acids, development of safe fat emulsions, and the current concepts of parenteral nutrition and future considerations are discussed.

This special series is dedicated to the memory of Jonathan Evans Rhoads, and strives to describe some of the events around the development of parenteral nutrition. The first paper in this series describes a long series of clinical and experimental developments that were in many ways building blocks for the experiments in Rhoads’ laboratory.