Does the nutritional composition and category of administered enteral nutrition affect the nutritional status of patients receiving home nutritional therapy?

Home enteral nutrition is a nutritional intervention that can help in the recovery of health after hospital discharge. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the nutritional composition of different categories of enteral nutrition administered to patients at home, the relationship with their nutritional status, and to compare the nutritional recommendations to the nutritional content provided by the different categories of enteral nutrition. 111 samples of homemade enteral preparations (HEP), blended enteral preparations (BEP) and commercial enteral formulas (CEF) were collected from patients’ homes. Physicochemical analyses were performed on the enteral formulations, and anthropometric and body composition evaluations were performed on the patients. Comparisons between the infused and prescribed nutritional content were performed. Shapiro–Wilk, Wilcoxon, and Kruskal–Wallis tests with post hoc DMS were conducted. The enteral nutrition categories demonstrated adequacy in relation to the physical analyses. The energy content was similar among the evaluated categories. The BEP and CEF presented higher levels of total solids, proteins, lipids, caloric density and non-protein calories; they also had a lower volume of infused/day content, and both were classified as normocaloric. The HEP were classified as hypocaloric. Regarding the infused content in relation to the recommended content, the HEP presented lower levels of protein and lipids; the CEF showed lower lipid and carbohydrate content, and the BEP presented adequacy in all nutrients. Most of the evaluated anthropometric parameters did not differ between the enteral nutrition categories. The anthropometric indicator of arm circumference (cm and %) was higher in patients receiving CEF and BEP, and the triceps skin fold (mm) was higher in patients receiving CEF and HEP. It is recommended to review the macronutrient content in nutritional prescriptions, regardless of the enteral nutrition category used. Most anthropometric parameters did not differ between the categories of enteral nutrition administered, especially those that were indicative of lean body mass.