Seguy D, et al. - In this investigation involving malnourished patients ≥ 70 years old who lived at home, researchers compared healthcare costs between patients that were prescribed oral nutritional supplement (ONS) by their general practitioner and those who were not, and evaluated the impact of ONS prescription on the risk of hospitalisation. One hundred ninety-one patients were analyzed in this prospective multicentre observational study. According to the results, patients who were prescribed ONS were hospitalized more frequently. Hospitalisation risk was decreased three and five times when the intake from ONS was ≥ 30 g of protein/day or ≥ 500 Kcal/d, respectively. In malnourished elderly patients, ONS prescription did not generate any additional healthcare costs. High intake of energy and protein from ONS was linked to a lower risk of hospitalisation and cost of healthcare.