What is the recommendation for enteral diet for acute stroke patients?
Enteral diet should be started within 7 days of admission after an acute stroke. For patients with dysphagia, it is reasonable to initially use nasogastric tubes for feeding in the early phase of stroke (starting within the first 7 days) and to place percutaneous gastrostomy tubes in patients with longer anticipated persistent inability to swallow safely (>2 3 weeks). The FOOD RCTs (Feed or Ordinary Diet; phases I III), completed in 131 hospitals in 18 countries,266 showed that supplemented diet was associated with an absolute reduction in risk of death of 0.7% and that early tube feeding (within 7 days of admission) was associated with an absolute reduction in risk of death of 5.8% and a reduction in death or poor outcomes of 1.2%. When nasogastric feeding and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding were compared, percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding was associated with an increase in absolute risk of death of 1.0% and an increased risk of death or poor outcomes of 7.8%.