Medical Nutrition Therapy

What Is Medical Nutrition Therapy?

The goal of medical nutrition therapy is to help you get the best possible nutrition, even when you have a gastrointestinal disorder.

At Stanford Health Care, we are one of the few programs in the country with a team of dedicated nutritionists specializing in digestive health disorders. Benefits of our program include:

• Improving your appetite and food intake
• Lowering your risk for nutrient deficiencies and other complications
• Avoiding undesirable weight loss
• Support for diet changes needed to control certain digestive disorders, such as the low FODMAP diet
• Advanced nutritional therapies, such as a enteral nutrition through a feeding tube or total parenteral nutrition, for conditions such as short bowel syndrome

Your nutrition plan may require you to give up your favorite foods or try new things. We know that change isn’t easy, and we’re here to help. When you have a gastrointestinal disorder, finding the right combination of foods to keep you nourished can take time. We're happy to troubleshoot any problems you are having and expand upon the therapies that are working.

As with any treatment, it's possible for complications to happen. However, this is uncommon. Through frequent follow-up visits, we monitor your progress. If you are experiencing difficulty with eating, we make changes to your nutrition plan right away.

Possible complications associated with medical nutrition therapy include:

• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Malabsorption
• Maldigestion (an inability to digest food by stomach)