Study Links Nutritional Supplements to Shorter Hospital Stays

A new study has found that patients who were diagnosed as being malnourished spent less time in the hospital after taking a daily nutritional supplement.

It's estimated that nearly half of the United States adult population takes some type of dietary or nutritional supplement. Whether it's vitamin C, vitamin D, fish oil, calcium, zinc, iron, etc., supplements have become a routine part of life for millions of Americans. While they've received some criticism in recent years regarding their effectiveness, a new study suggests that supplements can shorten hospital stays at the very least.

For the study, researchers from Advocate Health Care and Abbott Laboratories examined new patients for nutrition deficits. Patients who were malnourished or at risk for malnourishment were asked to take a nutritional supplement daily. According to the study's lead researcher and author, those patients spent an average of five days during their hospital visit, as opposed to seven days from patients who had not taken the supplement.

Because of these stunning findings, Advocate Health Care says it plans to implement nutritional screening throughout its hospitals beginning next year.

Of course, nutrition plays an important role in our body's health and functions. It provides our body with the compounds it needs to function properly. And without these compounds, certain organs and systems may struggle to keep up, resulting in increased risk of illness and disease.

If a nutritional supplement the same as consuming a full-balanced meal? Probably not, but that's what it's called a "supplement" -- it should be used to supplement your regular diet, not replace it.

“When you take away all that other stuff that was going on, and just leave nutrition there, that seems to be what’s happening; that nutrition was causing that reduction on average of two days, which is about $3,000 just in the room charge,” said Dr. Tom Summerfelt, vice president of research and innovation at Advocate.. “It’s not that the patients are eating poorly – I mean, sometimes they are – but like all of us, when you’re sick, or you’re not feeling well, or you’re getting ready to have surgery, or whatever, you don’t always feel like eating."

Do you think a nutritional supplement can lead to shorter hospital stays?