PhD defence Lieke Eline Jasmijn van Iersel

Keywords: COPD, Nutrition, Muscle, Intestine

"Nutritional modulation of disease progression in COPD"

The role of nutrition in the development and progression of COPD has been investigated in this dissertation. Extra-pulmonary effects are common in patients with COPD, such as skeletal muscle weakness and a disturbed gut microbiota composition. Muscle weakness was reproduced in mouse models of COPD, after which a targeted multi-nutrient intervention was tested to examine whether it could counteract this skeletal muscle weakness. The nutritional supplement prevented loss of muscle mass but had no effect on mitochondrial metabolism of the muscle.

In addition, a clinical study design was described to test the same multi-nutrient supplement versus placebo in patients with COPD on physical activity level and quality of life. An exploratory sub-study showed that patients with COPD have a disturbed gut microbiota composition compared to healthy controls, but the nutritional supplement did not improve this. Targeted multi-nutrient supplementation may contribute to symptom relief and contribute to a healthier lifestyle.

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