Recent clinical trials have challenged the concept that aggressive full feeding as close to goal requirements as possible is necessary in the first week following admission to the intensive care unit. While the data suggesting that permissive underfeeding is better than full feeds are methodologically flawed, other data do indicate that in certain well-defined patient populations, outcomes may be similar. The most important issues for clinicians in determining optimal nutrition therapy for critically ill patients are to carefully determine nutrition risk and differentiate nutrition from nonnutrition benefits of early enteral feeding. Management decisions in the first week of hospitalization should be made in the context of both short- and long-term outcomes. Patients at highest nutrition risk may require advancement to goal feeds as soon as tolerated to maximize benefit from nutrition therapy.
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