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Omega-3 plus vitamins may prevent bed sores in hospitals


8/16/2007 - Bed sores, which afflict up to one-tenth of hospital
patients, may be prevented by adding key supplements to a standard
hospital diet, reports new research from Israel.

The treatment of pressure ulcers, caused by pressure, friction and
moisture, is estimated to cost as much as £3m per year in a typical
600-bed general hospital, and an annual £1.4bn to £2.1bn across the UK
- equivalent to 4 per cent of total National Health Service (NHS)
spending.

The new study, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, looked at
the effects of supplementing the with the fatty acids eicosapentanoic
acid (EPA) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) and vitamins A, C, and E on
pressure ulcers in patients hospitalised with an acute lung injury.

Lead author Miryam Theilla from Rabin Medical Center, in collaboration
with researchers from Tel Aviv University, randomly assigned 100
patients to receive the normal hospital diet or the normal diet
supplemented with the lipids and vitamins. The study was a
prospective, randomised non-blinded trial.

Theilla and co-workers report that at the end of the seven-day study,
the number of pressure ulcers in the control group increased by 24,
but by only 15 in the intervention group.

"A diet enriched with EPA, GLA and vitamins A, C and E is associated
with a significantly lower occurrence of new pressure ulcers in


The researchers state that wound healing is a complex biological
process, which starts immediately after injury. An inflammatory
response is quickly initiated and it is against this response that EPA
and GLA may offer benefits, they said.

"We can conclude that our study using an EPA, GLA and antioxidant-
enriched diet administered to critically ventilated patients has not
enough data to support the suggestion that this specialized nutrition
support is influencing significantly pressure ulcer occurrence,"
concluded the researchers.

"It may prevent their progression in severe (Grade 3) existing
pressure ulcers. This hypothesis has to be demonstrated by a
prospective randomized study designed for this purpose."

Currently, guidelines for physicians does not account for
micronutrient supplementation. Previous research on the impact of
supplements on pressure ulcer has been unconvincing, prompting a 2005
report by the Royal College of Nursing and the National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to conclude: "There is no
evidence to support the routine administration of nutritional support/
supplementation... to promote the healing of pressure ulcers."

However, all NICE guidance is reviewed regularly and may take into
account the small but growing body of science supporting the benefits
of micronutrient supplementation for the prevention of bed sores.

Source: Clinical Nutrition (Elsevier)
Published on-line ahead of print, doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2007.06.010
"A diet enriched in eicosapentanoic acid, gamma-linolenic acid and
antioxidants in the prevention of new pressure ulcer formation in
critically ill patients with acute lung injury: A randomized,
prospective, controlled study"
Authors: M. Theilla, P. Singer, J. Cohen and F. DeKeyser


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