Tube feeding can be recommended for people in many circumstances. Tube feeding can help when people have problems with:

• Their mouth, food pipe (called oesophagus), or stomach 
• Swallowing that can lead to choking or aspirating, which happens if food enters the lungs
• Taking enough food by mouth to meet their daily nutritional needs.

Everyone who is tube fed may have a different health problem. But you all have one thing in common - you can't eat enough to get the right amount of nutrition.

Good nutrition is needed to keep weight on and, sometimes, to aid recovery, respond to treatments, and keep independence. If your body does not get enough nutrition over a period of time, you could end up with 'undernutrition'. 

This is often called 'malnutrition' by healthcare professionals. It can happen if you can't swallow or take food by mouth. Or if your body cannot correctly use what you eat. And this can lead to many different health problems.

Your healthcare professional may decide you're at risk of undernutrition if you are:

• Living with an illness or disease 
• Preparing for surgery
• Recovering from an illness or surgery.

Tube feeding has been suggested to help you or the one you care for get all the nutrients needed. It can be overwhelming at first. But tube feeding can make a real improvement to quality of life compared to when you/they weren't getting enough nutrition

Glossary: 

Undernutrition or malnutrition = condition when someone does not get enough nutrition from food. Or the body is not able to convert it.