Volume 10, Issue 7

CF and Diet and Nutrition: The Changing Paradigm

In this issue:

Cystic fibrosis and weight gain. For most of their lives, individuals with CF have struggled to gain weight and achieve BMI norms. For most, despite the recommended high calorie/high fat diet, it’s been a losing battle. 

Now however, a growing number of adults, adolescents, and children with CF are meeting the current criteria for overweight or obesity. What changed? And without specific evidence-based guidance for managing overweight/obesity in people with CF, how should clinicians respond? 

That’s the focus of this Special Edition of eCysticFibrosis Review.

This first section presents an evidence-based Expert Commentary by eCysticFibrosis Review Guest Author Katie McDonald, PhD — a clinical dietitian, registered dietitian nutritionist and certified specialist in pediatrics — from the Primary Children’s CF Center Outpatient Clinic in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the second part of the program (a podcast, available without charge at ecysticfibrosisreview.org), Katie McDonald provides in-depth discussion of these issues with three of the country’s top cystic fibrosis nutrition experts.

Learning objectives:

  • Describe the current state of overweight and obesity within the adult CF population. 
  • Discuss the importance of individualizing the nutritional recommendations for children with CF while avoiding the overconsumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods.  
  • Explain the nutrition-related considerations for promoting an optimal pregnancy outcome in someone with CF. 

Authors:

Katie McDonald, PhD
Katie McDonald, PhD

Clinical Dietitian, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Specialist in Pediatrics
Primary Children’s CF Center Outpatient Clinic
Salt Lake City, UT

Megan Gabel, MD
Megan Gabel, MD

Pediatric Gastroenterology Specialist
University of Rochester Medical Center
Rochester, NY

Amanda Leonard, MPH, RD, LD, CDE
Amanda Leonard, MPH, RD, LD, CDE

Advanced Practice Dietitian
Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist
Pediatric Nutrition Practitioner
Johns Hopkins Cystic Fibrosis Center
Baltimore, MD

Alexandra Wilson, MS, RDN, CDE
Alexandra Wilson, MS, RDN, CDE

Manager, Cystic Fibrosis Clinical Research Team
National Jewish Health
Denver, CO

Program Directors:

Noah Lechtzin, MD, MHA

Director, Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program
Associate Professor of Medicine
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD

Peter J. Mogayzel, Jr., MD, PhD

Director, Eudowood Division of Pediatric Respiratory Sciences
Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Cystic Fibrosis Center

Donna Peeler, RN, BSN

Senior Clinical Nurse/Case Manager
Pediatric CF Program Coordinator
Johns Hopkins Cystic Fibrosis Center
Baltimore, MD

Length of activity:

1.0 hour Physicians
1.0 contact hour Nurses

Launch date: December 23, 2022
Expiration date: December 22, 2024