”Nutritional targets to enhance pulmonary rehabilitation efficacy in COPD”

Keywords: COPD, muscle mass, exercise programme, nutrition

Old age brings challenges that are often associated with a loss of muscle mass. Compared to other peers, this process is accelerated in patients with COPD, who are also more vulnerable because their skeletal energy muscle metabolism has been affected.  Low muscle mass and impaired lung function decreases their capacity for physical exercise. In the NUTRAIN trial, we found that COPD patients with low muscle mass could increase their capacity after an intensive exercise programme, but that this came at the expense of daily activities. Additional nutritional interventions were found to prevent this deterioration.