Currently most published books on enteral nutrition support focus only on issues such as the rationale; specific nutrient requirements for various disease conditions; and practical approaches to the delivery, monitoring, and complications preventions while providing enteral nutrition support. None offer information relating to the developmental aspects of enteral foods, e.g. processing technology, types of ingredients, physicochemical and nutritional characteristics, shelf life evaluations, etc. These aspects are critical because they affect the overall acceptability, tolerance, and effectiveness of enteral nutrition support.

Medical Foods from Natural Sources discusses the development of the enteral foods from the natural sources for the patients, such as barley, rice, eggs, milk, etc., and presents methods on how to prepare enteral foods from natural sources for use. The book fills the gap in the literature by discussing the history of enteral nutrition; interpreting the statistics regarding worldwide need for enteral nutrition support and cost involved; enumerating the processing technology to develop natural ingredients-based enteral foods; and describing the results of prospective clinical trials and case studies conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of enteral foods based on natural ingredients.