SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL REVIEW OF NATURAL CAMEROONIAN BASED FOODS AND DEVICES FOR ADMINISTRATION BY ENTERAL TUBE FEEDING

Abstract

Enteral feeding is a medical indication for people who cannot, should not, or no longer want to feed themselves through their mouth, and thus use a tube for that. In some countries, local foods were used because of the high cost and low availability of imported pharmaceutical products. Unfortunately, the blenderized food used have uncontrolled nutritional composition, and are not fluid enough. It leads to the feeding tube clogging. Pharmaceuticals and enteral feeding devices can help the food to flow easily by gravity, and many of them are patented. Some food technologies for making fluid products are known and their operating conditions generally have to be found regarding the type of equipment and raw materials composition. Therefore, with an appropriate process, it is possible to obtain a food from local sources, flowing through an enteral tube feeding only by gravity assistance without clogging. This situation encourages innovations based on local foods, fluidification techniques defined for a process and delivery devices, for the formulation of an enteral food. But some administrative constraints regarding the implementation strategy onsite, are likely to hinder the availability of local enteral feeding products, needing the creation of new requirements. The aim of this review is to present the current problems by bringing out the scientific, technical and administrative knowledges of the existing situation, in Cameroon especially, in order to propose innovative solutions.