Role of Proteins in Clinical Nutrition

Abstract

Clinical nutrition is a valuable tool for improving the nutritional status of patients with or at risk of malnutrition. Proteins are not stored in the human body, therefore, optimal quality and quantity of proteins in clinical nutritional products are of key importance for a successful clinical nutritional therapy. According to the recent trend in food industry and customer behaviour, plant-originated and even insect-derived proteins are seen as alternative protein sources to the traditionally used dairy proteins. However, amino acid profiles and thus, biological values of these protein sources are different from the widely used milk-derived proteins and may have a negative influence on the success of the clinical nutritional therapy. Moreover, production and safety regulations are not yet completely developed for the use of alternative protein sources.