Nutrition of the Burned Patient and Treatment of the Hypermetabolic Response

Advances in therapy strategies, based on improved understanding of resuscitation, enhanced wound coverage, more appropriate infection control, and improved treatment of inhalation injury, improved the clinical outcome of burn patients over the past years [1, 2]. However, severe burns remain a devastating injury affecting nearly every organ system and leading to significant morbidity and mortality [2]. One of the main contributors to adverse outcome of this patient population is the profound stress-induced hypermetabolic response, associated with severe alteration in glucose, lipid, and amino acid metabolism [1, 3–5].