Cystic fibrosis patients have lower nutrient levels, greater oxidative stress

2nd August, 2004

A study published in the August 1 2004 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (http://www.ajcn.org/) compared adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) to a healthy group of individuals and found that the CF patients had lower levels of several nutrients and higher indicators of oxidative stress.

In healthy people there is a balance between oxidation and antioxidant processes, but this balance is disturbed in people with cystic fibrosis. Impaired digestion and malabsorption diminish the available supply of antioxidant nutrients, and immune cells chronically stimulated by the disease as well as invading micro-organisms increase the amount of free radicals produced in these patients. In the current study, researchers in Germany sought to determine if the changes in antioxidant status and oxidative stress were due to the progression of cystic fibrosis or merely an effect of age by comparing 22 CF patients of varying ages with 35 healthy controls.

Fasting blood samples were analyzed for beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, alpha-tocopherol, vitamin C, and markers of oxidative stress. Buccal mucosal cell samples (obtained from the oral cavity) were analyzed to provide tissue levels of alpha-tocopherol. Breath condensate provided levels of F2 alpha-isoprostane, a marker of oxidation.