Guidelines & Standards

Our clinical guidelines are scientific, systematically developed, evidence-based, evidence-informed documents that provide practice recommendations to guide practitioner and patient decisions about nutrition and nutrition care practice. According to the best available evidence, in the absence of evidence, guidelines systematically outline the opinions of a large collection of experienced clinicians for the purposes of unifying nutrition and nutrition care and coordinating future research efforts.

ASPEN Guidelines Program Director and Editor in Chief: Liam McKeever, PhD, RDN, FASPEN

Read more about ASPEN’s Clinical Guideline Program, including methodology and projects under development

Our position papers present the official opinion of ASPEN on a particular topic.

Our special reports present ASPEN-generated clinical or public policy information that is important for ASPEN constituents and does not fall into any of the other categories.

Our practice standards are benchmarks for competent care performance. They define the structure and professional responsibilities needed to ensure patient safety and treatment success.

Our expert guidance documents may have different category names (i.e. consensus recommendations) as ASPEN Board-approved paper types have evolved over time. ASPEN is continually committed to producing highly rigorous clinical guidance.

ASPEN endorses these key resources from other organizations that align with our mission, scope of practice, and quality standards:

• Cardenas D, Correia MITD, Ochoa JB, et al. Clinical Nutrition and Human Rights. An International Position Paper. Nutr Clin Pract. 2021;36(3):534-544. doi:10.1002/ncp.10667
• Baskin KM, Mermel LA, Saad TF, et al. Evidence-Based Strategies and Recommendations for Preservation of Central Venous Access in Children. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2019;43(5):591-614. doi:10.1002/jpen.1591
• Mechanick JI, Apovian C, Brethauer S, et al. Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Perioperative Nutrition, Metabolic, And Nonsurgical Support Of Patients Undergoing Bariatric Procedures – 2019 Update: Cosponsored By American Association Of Clinical Endocrinologists/American College Of Endocrinology, The Obesity Society, American Society For Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, Obesity Medicine Association, and American Society Of Anesthesiologists – Executive Summary Endocr Pract. 2019;25(12):1346-1359. doi:10.4158/GL-2019-0406
• Mirtallo JM, Forbes A, McClave SA, et al. International consensus guidelines for nutrition therapy in pancreatitis. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2012;36(3):284-291. doi:10.1177/0148607112440823
• Jensen GL, Mirtallo J, Compher C, et al. Adult starvation and disease-related malnutrition: a proposal for etiology-based diagnosis in the clinical practice setting from the International Consensus Guideline Committee. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 2010;34(2):156-159. doi:10.1177/0148607110361910