Impact of a specialized oral nutritional supplement on quality of life in older adults following hospitalization: Post-hoc analysis of the NOURISH trial.

Background & Aims: Both during and after hospitalization, nutritional care with daily intake of oral nutritional supplements (ONS) improves health outcomes and decreases risk of mortality in malnourished older adults. In a post-hoc analysis of data from hospitalized older adults with malnutrition risk, we sought to determine whether consuming a specialized ONS (S-ONS) containing high protein and beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) can also improve Quality of Life (QoL).

Methods: We analyzed data from the NOURISH trial-a randomized, placebo-controlled, multi-center, double-blind study conducted in patients with congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Nutritional Deficiencies and Sarcopenia in Heart Failure: A Therapeutic Opportunity to Reduce Hospitalization and Death.

There is an expanding prevalence pool of heart failure (HF) due to the increasing prevalence of survivors of myocardial infarction, diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and obesity. There is increasing interest in the role of nutrition in all forms of HF, given observations concerning micro- and macronutrient deficiencies, loss of lean body mass or sarcopenia, and their relationships with hospitalization and death. This review examines the relationships among loss of lean body mass, macro- and micronutrient intake, and the natural history of HF, particularly in the elderly, in whom the risks for all-cause rehospitalization, infection, falls, and mortality are increased.