All people need food to live. Sometimes a person cannot eat any or enough food because of an illness. The stomach or bowel may not be working quite right, or a person may have had surgery to remove part or all of these organs. Under those conditions, nutrition must be supplied in a different way.

Nutrition can be provided either through a feeding tube (enteral nutrition) or, when the digestive tract cannot be used, through an intravenous tube called a catheter that is inserted directly into the veins (parenteral nutrition). The amount, type, and route of nutrition are tailored specifically to each patient with the goal being to improve patient outcomes, minimize infections, and allow patients to live their lives as normally as possible.

Nutrition support professionals work in a variety of settings including hospitals, home care agencies, long-term care facilities, research facilities, and academia. They include dietitians, pharmacists, nurses, and physicians and may work either independently or as part of a nutrition support service or team. They are specialists in providing and managing enteral and parenteral nutrition in diverse patient populations from pediatrics to geriatrics.