Dietary Protein Increase and the Promotion of Wound Healing in Diabetic Adult Patients

Dietary Protein Increase and the Promotion of Wound Healing in Diabetic Adult Patients
Introduction
There are approximately 23 million people diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S. (American Diabetes Association, 2012) and this population continues to grow. There are multiple complications associated with diabetes. One major and expensive complication is diabetic wounds. The cost of care in the U.S. alone for this population is approximately $245 Billion annually. (American Diabetes Association, 2012) Proper wound care is an essential step in the wound healing process, however,wound care alone is not sufficient. Nutritional status is extremely important in wound healing. Diabetic patients need to be educated and assessed for protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) as the body’s nutritional needs significantly increase during the wound healing process (Demling, 2009). Supplementation (especially protein) and the importance of it for wound healing need to be discussed with the patient. Without all the necessary interventions applied the process of wound healing can be lengthy and may lead to infection, excessive hospitalization and potential amputations.
Understanding the body’s nutritional needs and how the body uses protein in the repair process is imperative. The recommendation for the amount of protein supplementation is between 0.8grams/kilogram to 1.2 grams/kilogram and is based on patient nutritional status and severity of the wound (Collins 2014) (Goodridge 2006) (Lansdown 2004). Maintaining recommended amounts of protein intake has shown dramatic decrease in days-to-heal and better patient outcomes overall (Demling, 2009).

Purpose
The primary purpose of this integrated review is to summarize the findings from studies that evaluated the use of protein