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| |  ERS: Carbohydrate Supplement and Exercise Program May Improve Endurance in COPD Patients By Cameron Johnston STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- September 16, 2002 -- Even relatively small amounts of supplemental carbohydrates can help increase strength and endurance measurements among older people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). According to Dr. Michael Morgan, of the Institute for Lung Health, Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester, England, loss of muscle mass in patients with COPD is often a barrier to an active life. Even though it is known that mild exercise can help many of these patients feel better physically and improve their overall quality of life, the negative energy balance between what the patient is capable of doing and what the exercise demands makes this difficult if not impossible in many cases. Dr. Morgan presented the findings here today at the 12th annual meeting of the European Respiratory Society. In a randomised, controlled trial involving 85 patients, mean age 67 years, who had severe COPD (mean FEV1 was 14 percent of predicted value) the subjects were randomised to receive a commercially available form of daily carbohydrate supplementation or placebo. They were evaluated using incremental shuttle walking tests and endurance shuttle walking tests at baseline, and then again throughout the seven-week study. They also underwent a standardised endurance enhancement program. It was found that subjects who received the carbohydrate supplement had an improvement in incremental shuttle walking and endurance shuttle walking that were greater than placebo patients, but not significantly so. At the same time, quadricep strength was almost five times greater in those who had received the supplement. Dr. Morgan said that a planned exercise program by itself had some benefit in that all patients showed an improvement in endurance at the end of the study. However, the change was greater for those who received the carbohydrate supplement. Nonetheless, the findings do not mean exercise or carbohydrate supplements should be offered to all patients with COPD, he cautioned. The benefits were significantly greater among those who were well nourished, he said. In fact, the benefit was not significant in those whose body mass index put them at the lowest end of normal (BMI = 19). "Carbohydrate supplements aren't helpful when universally prescribed, but the results in well nourished patients suggest that there is a selective role," he said.
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