There are many controversies regarding the nutritional support of septic patients. Recently, more evidence-based guidelines for feeding intensive care unit patients have been published. Thus, we will focus on routes of nutritional support and the effects of lipid emulsions, glucose control, and immune modulation in septic patients, as well as discuss which nutritional support methods may serve to further enhance the physiologic effects of nutritional therapy and achieve even greater improvement in patient outcome. (SMN 2010;1:1-4)