Suggestions for terminology in clinical nutrition

Summary Purpose The nomenclature in clinical nutrition differs locally, among (para)medical disciplines, and both nationally and internationally. The inconsistencies hamper public, professional and scientific discussions. A working group of the German Society of Nutritional Medicine (DGEM) was established to work out definitions for the relevant terms used in nutritional support within Germany. Methods Terms were searched in (inter)national hard print technical literature (medical dictionaries, text books, (inter)national guidelines and online (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Google Scholar, general internet). (Inter)nationally agreed definitions published by Clinical Nutrition Societies were preferred to other reports. Results The terms were organised into four categories totaling 53 definitions: 1. Fields and structure: medical nutrition, clinical nutrition, nutrition steering committee, nutritional care, care catering, dietetics (dietary advice), obesity as part of clinical nutrition (obesity team), nutritional support (nutrition support team, malnutrition screening, nutritional support therapy), functional nutrition, nutritional assessment, nutrition therapy plan, nutritional therapy, 2. Nutritional conditions: disease-related malnutrition (starvation induced malnutrition, chronic disease-related malnutrition, acute disease-related malnutrition), cachexia, sarcopenia, specific nutrient deficiencies, refeeding syndrome, 3. Forms of nutrition: diet (regular diet, therapeutic diet, fortified food), artificial nutritional support (oral nutritional supplementation, enteral nutrition, parenteral nutrition) 4. Products: oral nutritional supplements and enteral formulas (whole protein formula, peptide-based formula, free amino acid formula, standard formula), parenteral solutions (total nutrient admixtures, multi-chamber systems, multiple bottle systems). Conclusion A comprehensive list of definitions for terms in nutritional support has been established for the first time and is made available to the international community for further development and discussions.