Intravenous Nutrition: Fact and Fancy

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Abstract
Thomas Huxley cautioned that "the great tragedy of Science [is] the staying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact."1 Occasionally, the observations responsible for the initial development of an hypothesis remain undisputed while new facts emerge, making the theory untenable. Such a situation has developed in the field of postoperative parenteral nutrition.After elective surgical procedures or more severe trauma, a period of negative nitrogen balance ensues. Body protein is catabolized at a rate of 75 to 150 g per day, representing losses of 300 to 600 g of lean body mass (primarily muscle), depending in part on the . . .