RESEARCH UPDATE

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland caught up with Dr. Audrey Tierney, Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead in Human Nutrition and Dietetics in the school of Allied Health University of Limerick, to hear how her work on diet quality in CF is going.

Dr. Tierney was awarded a grant through the Health Research Charities Ireland/Health Research Board Joint Funding Scheme in partnership with CFI to investigate diet quality in people living with CF in Ireland.

What is the Title of your Research?

The title of the research project is ‘Exploring diet quality in Cystic Fibrosis – enablers and barriers to eating a healthy diet in CF’

Who are your co-authors/collaborators?

The project is being funded by Cystic Fibrosis Ireland and the Health Research Board and it involves researchers in the University of Limerick. We have CFI ambassadors as collaborators on the project also to guide the research and to make sure that the findings get reported to the CF community.

What are your research questions for this study?

The research project is aiming to answer these questions: • What are the typical diets consumed by people with CF living in Ireland? • How is diet related to overall health in CF? • What are the barriers for people with CF to eat a healthy diet?

How is this question important to PWCF?

People with CF have typically been encouraged to consume a diet that is high in energy to meet nutritional requirements. Trying to eat a diet high in energy can often mean that diets can be high in sugar and fat, or that the quality of the diet is not as good as it should be for overall health.

With advancements in care and treatments in CF we want to assess the need for this high energy diet in CF and if weight, lung function and overall better health can be achieved and maintained with a healthy eating diet that is advised for the general population.

But we don’t have Irish or even European data on what people with CF are currently eating and how this relates to health and wellbeing. This research is really important to inform practice guidelines and next steps in terms of what we advise for people with CF in terms of best types of diets to consume.

What have you done so far and what did you find?

We have completed a review of the literature which shows that people with CF all around the world have tended to eat a diet that is high in energy and fat to meet the advised requirements. In some instances the literature has shown that adults with CF eat a diet that is high in sugar and low in fibre, fruits and vegetables to meet these requirements. However, these studies are quite old.

We are aiming to get approximately 150 people with CF to complete this research study where we look at current dietary patterns. It is a short study that takes participants about 30 minutes to complete.

What are the potential benefits that this research may bring to PWCF?

We hope that this research will allow us to relook at the dietary recommendations for adults with CF. We are interested to see if people with CF can eat a healthy diet and to find out what are the barriers to eating healthy with CF so that we can focus on efforts to address this.

How do you find working in the field of CF research in Ireland?

I have worked in the area of CF for the past 12 years both clinically and in research. It has been great to see the advancements in CF in the area of new medications and new treatments coming on board. I think we need to focus on the person as a whole and to ensure that quality of life and all aspects feeding into quality of life are equally considered i.e. diet, physical activity, mental health, sleep etc

What are the main challenges?

The main challenges are to ensure that the person with CF’s voice is heard in research and practice. That is why we have partnered with CFI for this research project and we are hoping as many adults with CF take part to ensure we capture the most relevant data.

What does the future hold for you?

After this research project I would love to look at carrying out an intervention study to see if people with CF could eat a Mediterranean type diet here in Ireland (this was the focus of my research in Australia with people with other chronic diseases) and to see if it improves some symptoms and overall quality of life. Watch this space!!

GET INVOLVED

To participate in this research study register your interest at www.cfireland.ie

The survey will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Cystic Fibrosis Ireland encourage members to take part in this research project if they can. It is imperative we support research that aims to improve current methods of treatment and management of the disease as well as enhance the quality of life of those living with the condition.