Best timing for energy provision during critical illness.

The article discusses the best time for energy provision during critical illness. Topics include the persistence of malnutrition in hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs) worldwide and its role in aggravating already pre-existing malnutrition in critically ill patients, how nutritional requirements are defined and guidelines for measuring energy expenditure by indirect calorimetry, equations for indirect calorimetry, and the consequences of over- and under-feeding.