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Proper Nutrition is Important to TBI Recovery

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A report issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in Long Island now states that if an appropriate dose of nutritional supplements is administered soon after an injury occurs, service members wounded on the battlefield have a much better outlook at recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Nutrition apparently plays an even bigger role than previously though.

Commissioned by the Department of Defense (DoD), the report urges the military to make infusions, which contain calories and protein, a standard part of care in the immediate aftermath of a brain injury.

Accordingly, these findings also have implications in the civilian sector. “The investment the military makes will cross over into the civilian population for injuries suffered by those in car accidents, in motorbike accidents, by kids on soccer fields,” says the IOM panel chairman, professor emeritus of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois.

In both Iraq and Afghanistan, brain injuries are commonplace among service members. According to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, within the U.S. military as a whole, over 200,000 cases of TBI have been diagnosed since 2000. A Manhattan doctor found out that 2,124 of those cases were classified as severe.

The chairman says, “Across the board, the military is trying to understand how to set the stage for the recovery of these individuals.”

The DoD asked the IOM to review all scientific literature that linked nutrition to brain injury outcomes. The panel, an eclectic mix of food and nutrition specialists, neurologists, and other experts, has met several times in the last 12 months.

Their strong suggestions were seasoned with the knowledge that more information in the field is vital to complete understanding.

The panel reviewed many studies, all of which were younger than 20 years old research-wise, and their study revealed correlatively to them that infusions of calories and protein implemented within the first 24 hours of injury and continued in the following two weeks, significantly reduced inflammation in the brain and aided recovery.

Long-term consequences of the injection of nutrition were not studied.

Investigation is underway as to the possibility of avoiding injury altogether with the nutrition supplements.

Brain injuries are a common occurrence and when they are the result of medical malpractice or negligence, it is important that you contact a New York Brain Injury Attorney to fight your case with gusto and professionalism.

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