Among critically ill surgical patients, caloric provision across a wide acceptable range does not appear to be associated with major outcomes, including infectious complications. The optimum target for caloric provision remains elusive.

Early postoperative oral feeding as compared with traditional (or late) timing is associated with shorter hospital length of stay and is not associated with an increase in clinically relevant complications.

The addition of glutamine to standard enteral feeds or to an immunomodulatory formula did not improve outcomes. These findings suggest that enteral glutamine should not be routinely administered to patients with surgical critical illness.