Uptake of dietary amino acids into arterial blood during continuous enteral feeding in critically ill patients and healthy subjects.

Background: Amino acid availability is a regulatory factor of protein anabolism and is partly dependent on enteral amino acid uptake. During continuous enteral feeding, enteral amino acid uptake may vary considerably, but this has not been documented systematically.

Methods: In this pragmatic study, we investigated patients in the intensive care unit (n = 10) and healthy adults (n = 10).