Nutritional biomarkers in MND
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An evaluation of the role of nutritional biomarkers as indicators of nutritional status in people living with motor neuron disease: a pilot study
IRAS ID
292618
Contact name
Haris Stavroulakis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 31 days
Research summary
Motor neuron disease (MND) is an illness that causes progressive weakness of muscles controlling movement, swallowing and breathing. People living with MND (plwMND) are at risk of malnutrition, a serious condition that happens when people do not get the right amount of nutrients, often followed by weight loss. This is a problem, because malnutrition and subsequent weight loss is linked to increased disability and shortened life expectancy.
There are many reasons why plwMND are at risk of malnutrition. Most are associated with MND symptoms, making activities such as cooking, bringing food to mouth, chewing and swallowing increasingly difficult. As a result, plwMND eat and drink less than they actually need to. Another important reason is that some plwMND may also experience changes in their metabolism (a complicated chemical process inside the body that changes food into energy), whereby they use more energy than normal when at rest.
Monitoring of nutritional status is important to understand if people are malnourished, or at risk of malnutrition. In clinical practice, this is most commonly done by measuring people’s body composition (for example, their weight). However, a simple weight measurement, although useful, does not provide a comprehensive view of nutritional status and may be difficult to obtain, particularly in people with advanced MND.
There is a need to come up with ways to better understand the nutritional status of an individual living with MND. We plan to do this by looking at markers in the blood and urine, and see whether levels of these markers match up with that people are telling us they are eating and drinking, and how well these markers compare to the usual measurements taken at check-up appointments, such as weight.
REC name
London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/PR/0092
Date of REC Opinion
17 Mar 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion