ABBOTT PARK, Ill., April 26, 2017
/PRNewswire/ -- More than 48 million surgeries happen in the U.S.
each year,1 and for many of those patients, food is off
the table in the hours prior to their procedure. According to a new
survey of 1,015 Americans, supported by Abbott, a majority (79
percent) of the respondents who had undergone surgery were
instructed by a doctor not to eat or drink before their
surgery.2 Yet, surgical guidelines from organizations
including the American College of Surgeons and the latest research
recommend that certain nutrition should be consumed before and
after surgery to help patients have a faster recovery, allowing
them to get back to daily activities.
Abbott, the maker of Ensure®, has developed two new
science-based nutrition drinks for patients undergoing surgery:
- Ensure® Surgery Immunonutrition Shake is for
people to drink in the week leading up to and following surgery to
provide nutrients, such as arginine and omega-3 fatty acids EPA and
DHA, to help with immune health and recovery.
- Ensure® Pre-Surgery Clear Nutrition Drink
allows patients to consume a carbohydrate drink up to two hours
before surgery, helping to reduce insulin resistance and improve
patient outcomes.
"Preparing your body for surgery is similar to training for a
marathon," said Christina Sherry,
PhD, RD, scientist at Abbott. "Just like you wouldn't fast before a
big race, you want to prepare your body to have the strength and
energy needed for a major procedure. Getting the right nutrition
before and after surgery is an important part of the recipe to
support healing and recovery."
Improving Recovery after Surgery
During surgery, a patient experiences stress, which can cause
weight and muscle loss, inflammation, poor wound healing and
complications like infections. Research has shown that consuming
specific nutrition – before and after surgery– has the following
health and economic benefits:
- Immunonutrition includes nutrients that support the immune
system and has been shown to help reduce wound3 or
infection complications4,5 after surgery. In turn, this
can reduce time in the hospital3-6 and healthcare
costs.7
- Carbohydrate-loading two hours before surgery has been shown to
improve patient outcomes by reducing:
-
- Hunger, thirst and anxiety before surgery;8-9
- Insulin resistance which can lead to
complications;10
- Nausea, vomiting and pain after surgery;11,12
- And how much time patients spend in the
hospital.13
Addressing these health issues would also ease the minds of
patients undergoing surgery. In the same survey, respondents said
their top concerns of not eating or drinking after midnight before
surgery would be nausea (36 percent), dehydration (35 percent) and
anxiety (32 percent).2
More Hospitals Shifting to Surgical Guidelines that
Prioritize Nutrition
Several organizations, including the Enhanced Recovery After
Surgery (ERAS®) Society and the American College of
Surgeons, have created guidelines and protocols that are designed
to improve recovery from surgery. In addition to recommendations
around exercise and to stop smoking, the guidelines include the
importance of nutrition for patients before and after surgery. Some
leading hospitals and health systems, including Duke University Hospital, have implemented
nutritional guidelines into pre-and post-operative care and have
seen an impact on patient outcomes.
"Given the evidence we have today, all patients undergoing a
major surgery in the U.S. should have a nutrition assessment and be
given the proper nutrition that will help them recover," said
Paul Wischmeyer, MD,
anesthesiologist and critical care specialist, Duke University Hospital. "The medical community
needs to come together and abandon the current practice of
preoperative fasting after midnight, so we can help give our
patients the best chances of success and get them back to enjoying
their everyday activities."
Applying nutrition guidelines and recommending nutrition allows
hospitals and doctors to help even their sickest patients rebuild
the strength and energy they need to recover faster.
About Ensure® Surgical Nutrition Drinks
Ensure® Surgery Immunonutrition Shake is specifically
designed to support immune health and recovery from surgery
with:
- 18 grams of protein
- 4.2 grams of arginine to support tissue repair, immune function
and wound healing
- 1.1 grams EPA and DHA (omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil) to
help reduce the risk of infection
Ensure® Pre-Surgery Clear Nutrition Drink offers
hospitals a pre-surgery complex carbohydrate drink, specifically
designed to help reduce insulin resistance after surgery and
improve patient outcomes. The nutrition drink includes:
- 50 grams of carbohydrates
- Low in osmolality to support gastric emptying before
surgery14
In addition, patients can continue to use
Ensure® Enlive® advanced nutrition
drink for 90 days after surgery to help rebuild lost muscle and
regain strength and energy. Introduced last year, Ensure Enlive
provides all-in-one nutrition, including 20 grams of high-quality
protein and the unique ingredient HMB (β-hydroxy
β-methylbutyrate).
All three products are now available for hospitals and
pharmacies nationwide, and can be purchased on Amazon and the
Abbott Store. Ensure Enlive can also be found nationwide at major
grocery and mass merchandise stores.
About Abbott:
At Abbott (NYSE: ABT), we're committed
to helping you live your best possible life through the power of
health. For more than 125 years, we've brought new products and
technologies to the world -- in nutrition, diagnostics, medical
devices and branded generic pharmaceuticals -- that create more
possibilities for more people at all stages of life. Today, 94,000
of us are working to help people live not just longer, but better,
in the more than 150 countries we serve.
Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews and
@AbbottGlobal.
References
1 NCHS, National Hospital Ambulatory
Medical Care Survey, 2010.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr102.pdf
2 Survey conducted by Clarus Research with support from Abbott. The
survey interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,015 men
and women over 18 years old during April
2017.
3 Marik PE, et al. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr.
2010;34(3):378-386.
4 Drover JW, et al. J Am Coll Surg.
2011;212(3):385-399.e1.
5 Marimuthu K, et al. Ann Surg.
2012;255(6):1060-1068.
6 Cerantola Y, et al. Gastroenterol Res Pract.
2011;201:739347.
7 Reis AM, et al. Arg Bras Circ Dig. Apr-Jun 2016;29(2):121-125.
8 Hausel J, et al. Anesth Analg. 2001;93;1344-1350.
9 Canbay O, et al. Int Urol Nephrol.
2014;46(7):1329-1333.
10 Wang ZG, et al. Br J Surg. 2010;97(3):317-327.
11 Hausel J, et al. Br J Surg. 2005;92(4):415-421.
12 Singh BN, et al. Surg Endosc. 2015;29(11):3267-3272.
13 Smith MD, et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev.
2014;8:Cd009161.
14 Ljungqvist O. Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol.
2009;23(4):401-409.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/abbott-introduces-science-based-nutrition-drinks-to-help-patients-have-a-better-recovery-from-surgery-300445877.html
SOURCE Abbott