Three-week nutritional supplementation effect on long-term nutritional status of patients with mild Alzheimer disease

Abstract

Short-term nutritional supplements enable an improvement in Alzheimer patients' nutritional status, but it remains to be seen whether they will be sufficient to improve long-term nutritional status. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term impact of a 3-week nutritional supplementation on the nutritional status of undernourished patients with probable mild Alzheimer disease. A 21-day prospective randomized nonblinded controlled trial was conducted. Patients were followed-up for an additional period until the 90th day after the beginning of the intervention. Intervention resulted in significant improvements in Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) score [Mean=1.4, standard deviation (SD)=0.8 vs. 0.0 (0.1) in the control group, P<0.001] and also in anthropometrical and serum biomarkers of Alzheimer disease (AD) patients' nutritional status. Further improvements in the AD patients' MNA mean score=1.4 (SD=2.3) versus -0.5 (SD=0.6) in the control group (P=0.003) were seen at 90 days follow-up. Data show that a 3-week nutritional supplementation has a positive long-term impact on the nutritional status of undernourished patients with mild probable AD.