Mice who were put on a special diet with extra protein, leucine and anti-inflammatory nutrients maintained normal muscle mass and had healthier right heart ventricles, shows research by Paulien Vinke. Photo Shutterstock An adapted diet holds out possibilities for improving the lives of PAH patients, Paulien Vinke concluded in her PhD thesis.
PAH, pulmonary arterial hypertension, is a chronic disease in which high blood pressure in the lungs can cause damage to muscles and the heart. As a result, patients often suffer from reduced fitness levels and muscular strength. In her doctoral research, Paulien Vinke found that a special diet might be able to ease these symptoms.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare chronic disease in which patients have high blood pressure in the lungs, caused by damage and narrowing of the pulmonary veins. This eventually causes an enlarged right ventricle, heart failure and an early death. PAH patients also suffer from reduced fitness due to loss of muscle mass and function, and this affects their quality of life. Diet can make a difference to this, claims Paulien Vinke (Human Nutrition and Health) in her thesis, which she defended in December. In the study, Vinke collaborated with the University of Leipzig and the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam.
Iron deficiency
Vinke studied levels of the vitamins and minerals that are associated with fatigue in PAH patients. At the time of diagnosis, more than 40 per cent of these patients had an iron deficiency. Almost one third of the patients still had insufficient iron after one and a half years of treatment with drugs. This deficiency is partly caused by underlying chronic inflammation and is directly related to a decline in fitness.
Drugs commonly prescribed as part of the treatment of PAH, known as proton pump inhibitors, can also contribute to underlying inflammation and muscle loss, although they are often prescribed together with anti-inflammatories.
Mice on a diet
Vinke conducted an animal experiment to see whether mice with the same disease had better muscles and a healthier right ventricle if they were put on a diet with extra protein, leucine and anti-inflammatory nutrients (fish oil and prebiotics). And what did she find? Whereas diseased mice on a normal diet had an enlarged ventricle, fibrosis and smaller muscles, the mice on the special diet maintained their normal muscle mass and had healthier right ventricles.
So Vinke concluded that an adapted diet has potential for improving the quality of life of PAH patients. Exactly how diet can be made part of the treatment package for PAH patients will be addressed in the next stage of the study.
