No abstract

The nutritional therapy aims to maintain or recover the nutritional status, and the enteral nutrition therapy is used when oral feeding is not indicated or when the individual's nutritional needs are not met. During hospitalization, nutritional status impairment may be fast, and malnutrition increases the risk of complications and mortality. Enteral formulas can be composed of plant or animal proteins, but it is not clear whether different sources influence in clinical outcomes. Considering the lack of studies addressing this topic, evidence related to the type of protein source in enteral nutritional therapy was compiled in order to identify differences in clinical outcomes of patients using nutritional therapy. Studies that were included in the review show that the use of enteral formulas based on vegetable protein appear to be as efficient as animal protein based formulas, regarding maintenance of nutritional status, improvement of glycemic control and minimizing gastrointestinal complications when compared to animal protein. The limited number of studies and differences in study design and characteristics make it difficult to draw evidence-based conclusions. Thus, further studies are needed to elucidate the role of vegetable protein in clinical outcomes when compared to animal protein.