Nutritional and Metabolic Support and the Treatment Strategy of Severe Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

The digestive tract is a target organ attacked by COVID-19. It is also the earliest affected organ other than the lung and must bear side effects from the anti-virus chemotherapy such as LPV/r. In this article, we aim to provide practical recommendations for a nutritional and metabolic management strategy for severe corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19) patients. These recommendations are based on the newest pathophysiological findings on the risk factors of malnutrition for COVID-19. We also systematically retrieve literatures on nutritional therapy for acute lung injuries from international and Chinese databases according to evidence-based principles. Our suggestions are: 1) Physicians should be mindful of gut injury when they focus on respiratory support, by monitoring and managing the nutritional status; 2) Periodical and dynamic nutritional risk evaluation is needed; 3) For severe patients, the feeding target of calorie and protein should be down-regulated; 4)The using of ω-3 fatty acids products should be in accordance with pharmacological indications; the forms and dosage should be determined individually.