ESPEN is dedicated to all issues relevant to the field of clinical nutrition and metabolism and promotes:

- basic and clinical research
- basic and advanced education
- organization of consensus statements about clinical care and care quality control

The aims of ESPEN are to encourage the rapid diffusion of knowledge and its application in the field of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition or, more broadly, Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism.

ESPEN sponsors a journal and for which it assumes editorial, as distinct from publishing, responsibility.

It promotes experimental and clinical research, fosters high ethical standards of practice and investigation, and promotes contact between investigators and clinicians in related fields.