Under-appreciated Issues In The Treatment of Chronic Illness – Muscle/Dietary Protein Update Part I

Upon finishing part III of my metabolic acidosis/potassium series, I had every intention of writing part IV right after. However, as the time came to write part IV, I decided that, while there is still a large volume of research on this issue that I will be reviewing in future newsletters, I needed to take a break from this subject for a short period of time. Why? During the last few months a literal avalanche of research on another grossly under-appreciated issue in the treatment of chronic illness, loss of muscle mass and the need for increased protein intake, has been published. Some of these papers, in particular the two I am about to review in this and the next newsletter, are, to me, so compelling and so desperately relevant to the needs of today’s ever-growing volume of aging chronically ailing patients, that I felt, in good conscience, I could not delay writing about them until I had finished the metabolic acidosis/potassium series. Therefore, to start the new year, I want to re-emphasize the need to consider muscle mass and increased protein need for literally every chronically ill patient, particularly those who are aged 50 years and older.