Monthly Archives: November 2019

For hospitalised patients with diabetes, poor glucose control leads to adverse health outcomes while good control improves patients’ outcomes and cuts the cost of care. Based on the evidence of clinical, health and economic outcomes, the International Special Dietary Food Industries (ISDI) endorses the use of diabetes-specific formulas (DSF) to help achieve and maintain glycaemic control, improve recovery, and reduce the cost of care.

ISDI considers it essential to share this endorsement on the occasion of World Diabetes Day 2019, and to recall the publication of its position statement.

Poor glycaemic control is common in hospitalised patients and predisposes them to:

• Increased risk of perioperative infection
• Increased length of stay
• Greater risk of mortality

The American Diabetes Association has defined two key goals for nutrition therapy of hospitalised patients: to optimise glycaemic control and provide adequate nutrients to meet metabolic demands. DSFs are a category of foods for special medical purposes designed to meet these objectives by not only supporting the metabolic nutritional requirements of a standard formula, but also minimising glycaemic response. DSFs are also endorsed by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) for the nutritional support of people with obesity and diabetes.

Clinical evidence further validates the use of DSFs to improve patient outcomes and
cut the cost of care by:

• Improving glucose levels and reducing glycaemic variability
• Reducing the risk of hypoglycaemia, and blunting the hyperglycaemia of stressrelated metabolism
• Reducing insulin requirements
• Reducing length of stay, which leads to a reduction in total cost

Therefore, ISDI endorses the use of DSFs as a safe, efficacious and cost-effective strategy to support the management of hospitalised patients with, or at risk of, poor glucose control.

From 19-22 September 2019, Paul Hanlon and Cris Bradley represented ISDI at the 14th China Nutrition Science Congress and 11th Asia Pacific Conference on Clinical Nutrition in Nanjing, China, taking part in the symposium ‘Forum on Infant Food – Nutrition and Regulation’.

Their presentations on ‘Safety Assessment of Infant Formula Additives’ (Dr Hanlon) and ‘Safe Use of Additives in Infant Foods: What, Why and How they are Used’ (Ms Bradley) provided a complementary and cohesive perspective on the industry’s collaborative work in this challenging area, and were very well received by the audience.

The symposium, which was well-attended by a greatly interested audience, also featured high-profile presentations on China’s regulations on older infant and young child formula, human milk research and outcomes, and infant allergies and brain development.