Glucose Polymers in Health and Disease

There are many problems in determining the way in which foods are utilised in the seriously ill and no doubt there will, in time, be new insights which will help our understanding. The very ill patient has difficulty in taking food and any calorie source should be either very tasty or quite without taste.

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J. MILNER and N. P. MALLICK The story of the glucose polymer Caloreen began in Manchester and we thought it appropriate that we should meet here to put together the data we had collected from experimental and clinical experience in the UK and USA. Sick people require energy giving foods and calories derived from sugars are important to them. There are many problems in determining the way in which foods are utilised in the seriously ill and no doubt there will, in time, be new insights which will help our understanding. It seems clear that Caloreen has proved of value in a wide range of diseases although it was in the renal field that it first found a practical place. The very ill patient has difficulty in taking food and any calorie source should be either very tasty or quite without taste. It should be freely miscible with water and so easily added to many foods; it should not present the intestine with a large osmotic load which might cause vomiting or diarrhoea; it should be free of electrolytes and pro­ tein, and should be as readily utilised in sickness as in health.