Early Oral Carbohydrate Solution vs Clear Liquid Diet in Acute Pancreatitis

January 21, 2026 updated by: Aiqa Gulshan, Jinnah Hospital

Comparison of Oral Carbohydrate Solution Versus Clear Liquid Diet in Acute Pancreatitis:A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background:

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an inflammatory condition associated with increased metabolic demands and negative nitrogen balance, making early nutritional support a critical component of management. Concentional practice favored prolonged fasting and delayed oral intake; however, recent evidence supports early oral feeding. Oral carbohydrate solutions (OCS) may provide early caloric support with minimal pancreatic stimulation, but data comparing OCS with clear liquid (CL) diets which is current practice remain limited, particularly in South Asian populations.The Convential diet (CD )group started at liquid diet then progressed towards soft and then solid diet experienced recurring pain at a considerably higher rate than the oral high carbohydrate solution (OCS )group providing essential calories,(13.2% vs. 3.8%, p < 0.001).OCS showed decrease rate of post prandial recurrent abdominal pain.

Objective:

To compare oral carbohydrate solution versus clear liquid diet as the initial oral feeding strategy in patients with acute pancreatitis, focusing on feeding intolerance and length of hospital stay.

Methods:

This prospective randomized controlled trial will be conducted at a tertiary-care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Adult patients (18-70 years) with mild to moderately severe acute pancreatitis will be randomized to receive either an oral carbohydrate solution (10% dextrose in water) or a clear liquid diet as the initial oral feed. The primary outcomes will be feeding intolerance within 24 hours and length of hospital stay. Secondary outcomes include time to successful oral feeding, time to soft diet, changes in pain scores, inflammatory markers (CRP, WBC), glycemic response, need for nutritional escalation, complications, and patient satisfaction. Data will be analyzed using SPSS version 26, with a p-value ≤ 0.05 considered statistically significant.

Conclusion:

If proven safe and effective, oral carbohydrate solution may serve as a simple, cost-effective and well-tolerated alternative to clear liquid diets for early oral feeding in acute pancreatitis, particularly in resource limited settings.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

276

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • Pakistan
    • Punjab Province
      • Lahore, Punjab Province, Pakistan
        • Jinnah Hospital Lahore
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age range between 18 years and 70 years
  • Diagnosis of mild or moderately severe acute pancreatitis
  • Hemodynamically stable
  • Able to tolerate oral intake
  • Provided written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Severe acute pancreatitis
  • Chronic pancreatitis
  • Pregnancy
  • Uncontrolled diabetes mellitus
  • Known malabsorption syndrome,
  • Patients requiring immediate enteral tube feeding or parenteral nutrition,
  • Known allergy or intolerance to carbohydrate solutions,
  • Persistent retching or vomiting

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: ORAL CARBOHYDRATE SOLUTION GROUOP
Participant will be randomized in this group. Participant will receive an oral carbohydrate solution initiated after clinical stabilization.It will be be administrated orally with volume and frequency standardized for all participants and advancement according to study protocol.
Dietary supplement: Oral Carbohydrate Solution
Participant will be allocated in oral carbohydrate solution group.Participant will receive an oral carbohydrate solution initiated after clinical stabilization.It will be be administrated orally with volume and frequency standardized for all participants and advancement according to study protocol.
Active Comparator: CLEAR LIQUID DIET GROUP
Participant will receive a standard clear liquid diet initiated after clinical stabilization as per routine institutional practice in measured frequncy and volume and advancement according to study protocol.
Dietary supplement: Clear Liquid diet
Participant will receive a standard clear liquid diet initiated after clinical stabilization as per routine institutional practice in measured frequncy and volume and advancement according to study protocol.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
rate of feeding intolerance
Time Frame: Upto 24 hours after initiating first oral feed
Patient will be observed for 24 hours after initial feed for symptoms of feeding intolerance like pain,nausea,vomiting or abdominal distension.
Upto 24 hours after initiating first oral feed
Length of hospital Stay
Time Frame: From hospital admission to discharge in days
Length of hospital stay will be recorded from day of admission till discharge in days.
From hospital admission to discharge in days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Jinnah Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

April 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 3, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 21, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

January 29, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 29, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 21, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • ERB198/07/01-0-1-2026/AIMC/JHL

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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