Dietitian-led guides to home medical nutrition equipment — clear, clinical, and human
We are a team of registered dietitians who got tired of watching families hunt through spec sheets and supplier jargon to figure out the equipment their care plan depends on. Dietitians Without Borders exists to bridge that gap: the space where food meets the medical devices people actually use at home — feeding pumps, glucose monitors, scales, thickeners — explained the way a good clinician explains them at the kitchen table.
Everything here is written by dietitians, reviewed for accuracy, and grounded in what matters for daily life rather than what sells. We define the jargon, we tell you what a feature does for the person using it, and when a guide is genuinely about equipment we point you toward a reputable place to source the supplies. Our nutrition and diet writing stays editorial and free of sales pitches — that is a promise, not a marketing line.
The four equipment pillars we cover
Home medical nutrition therapy spans a surprising range of devices. We have organized our guidance into four pillars, each one a full library of plain-language explainers, comparison breakdowns, and "what to ask your clinical team" checklists.
Enteral & tube feeding
PEG and NG tubes, feeding pumps, gravity and bolus sets, extension sets, and the cleaning routines that keep them safe. We explain the difference between continuous, intermittent, and bolus feeding, what flow rates mean in practice, and how to read a pump screen without panic. Our PEG tube feeding supplies guide is the most thorough starting point if you are new to tube feeding at home.
Diabetes technology
Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), traditional glucometers and test strips, insulin pumps, and the sensors and apps that tie them together. We cover what a CGM trend arrow actually tells you, how warm-up periods and calibration work, and the practical trade-offs between patch pumps and tubed pumps — all framed around how they fit into eating, dosing, and ordinary days.
Anthropometric equipment
Clinical and digital scales, stadiometers and length boards, and body-composition analyzers. Accurate measurement underpins every nutrition plan, so we explain what "clinical grade" means, why a bathroom scale and a clinic scale can disagree, and how to weigh consistently at home so the numbers your dietitian sees are the numbers that count.
Dysphagia solutions
Thickening agents and the IDDSI framework, adaptive cups, nosey cups, weighted and angled spoons, and the small tools that make swallowing safer. We translate the texture levels into something you can recognize on a plate, and we are honest about which products earn their place and which are simply repackaged staples.
Nutrition & diet — our dietetics heritage
Before we wrote about equipment, we wrote about food, and that is still where our credibility lives. This editorial strip stays deliberately CTA-free: no product links, no upsells, just the evidence-informed diet explainers our readers have trusted for years.
- The low-FODMAP approach — what FODMAPs are, how the elimination-and-reintroduction phases work, and why "low-FODMAP forever" is usually the wrong goal.
- Gluten-free living — separating coeliac disease and non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, reading labels honestly, and avoiding the nutrient gaps a poorly planned gluten-free diet can leave.
- Sugars, demystified — free sugars versus intrinsic sugars, what the labels mean, and how this connects to glucose management for people using the diabetes tech above.
- Plant-based eating — building complete, satisfying meals without animal products, with particular attention to protein, B12, iron, and omega-3s.
These articles carry no sponsorships and recommend no products. That separation is intentional — it is how we keep our nutrition writing trustworthy.
Who writes this, and why you can trust it
Dietitians Without Borders grew out of a real registered-dietitian practice with roots in sports and clinical nutrition. The site earned its reputation through years of independent diet writing referenced by health and nutrition publishers — and we have carried that same standard into a harder, more practical question: what equipment does someone actually need to manage nutrition at home, and how do they use it well?
Our editorial standards
- Dietitian-authored and reviewed. Every guide is written or reviewed by a registered dietitian. We say plainly when something falls outside our scope and belongs to a speech-language therapist, a diabetes specialist nurse, or a prescribing clinician.
- Evidence-informed, not hype-driven. We cite guidance such as the IDDSI dysphagia framework where it applies, and we caveat honestly when the evidence is thin or a choice comes down to individual fit.
- Independent. We do not invent providers, fabricate reviews, or publish star ratings we cannot stand behind. When we suggest where to source supplies, it is a genuine, useful pointer — never a paid placement dressed up as advice.
- Patient-first language. We define jargon the first time we use it and explain what each feature means for the person living with the device, not the person selling it.
This is not medical advice and it does not replace your care team. It is the context that helps you have a better conversation with them.
Starting with tube feeding? Begin here
If you have landed here because someone in your life is about to start PEG or NG feeding at home, that first week can feel overwhelming. Our most complete, most reassuring resource walks through every supply you will encounter — pumps, bags, extension sets, syringes, and the routines that keep them clean — and closes with a practical note on where to reliably source these supplies.
Read the PEG tube feeding supplies guide
Prefer to talk it through, or have a question we have not answered? Our contact page reaches the dietitian editorial team directly.