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Project

Oral beta Alanine Supplementation (with and without exercise training) in Patients with COPD: Structural, Metabolic and Functional Adaptations (R-8201)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of mortality worldwide. Daily symptoms such as exercise-induced breathlessness and fatigue are the starting point of a vicious circle of physical inactivity resulting in a loss of lower-limb muscle function. Oxidative stress also contributes to the development of lower-limb muscle dysfunction in patients with COPD. Carnosine is an amino acid that acts as an anti-oxidant, which reduces oxidative stress. However, pilot data suggest that muscle carnosine levels in patients with COPD are significantly lower in comparison to healthy peers, which might again be due to increased oxidative stress in the lower-limb muscles of patients with COPD. On the other hand, a nutritional supplement named beta-alanine has proven to increase muscle carnosine levels, and, in turn exercise capacity in untrained adults and elderly, but not yet in patients with COPD. Nevertheless, we can hypothesize that muscle carnosine levels will increase when supplementing beta-alanine and that in turn it will have a positive effect on lower-limb muscle function and exercise capacity by reducing oxidative stress. At the same time exercise training also reduces exercise-induced oxidative stress in lower-limb muscles, and improves lower-limb muscle function in patients with COPD. Therefore, this project will investigate the effectiveness of beta-alanine supplementation with and without exercise training on lower-limb muscle function and exercise capacity in patients with COPD.
Date:1 Oct 2017 →  30 Sep 2019
Keywords:COPD
Disciplines:Morphological sciences