Nutrition support is the provision of nutrients via a tube placed into the stomach or small intestine, or intravenously for patients who are unable to eat adequately when provided a normal diet. These two types of nutrition support are called enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition.  Intravenous feeding is used when the digestive tract cannot adequately absorb nutrients, as occurs in severe malabsorption disorders.  Food given intravenously can provide part of a person’s nutritional requirements (partial parenteral nutrition), supplementing the food eaten by mouth.