NTM and Nutrition Management
A major consideration in treating a patient with nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is how to maintain a satisfactory weight and overall nutritional status; malnutrition and weight loss can initiate a cycle of worsening nutritional status, weaken immune response, increase risk for infection and inflammation of the body's airways.
In addition to food choices, the patient can take these measures to improve nutritional status and maintain weight:
- Eat smaller, more frequent meals if an early feeling of fullness is a problem
- Maintain good hydration by drinking adequate fluids
- Incorporate nutrient-dense foods in the diet — these include high-protein foods, foods with high vitamin C value, and fruits and vegetables that are rich in phytonutrients such as lycopene (tomatoes) and anthocyanin (dark red and purple foods)
- Maintain a daily log of protein intake; optimum protein intake is
1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight — e.g., 75 grams of
protein per day for a person weighing 75 kilograms (kilogram
weight is obtained by dividing weight in pounds by 2.2)
Long-term therapy with antibiotics can eliminate many of the bacteria that are part of normal gut flora (an array of essential microorganisms) in the digestive tract. Since normal gut flora participates in gut metabolism and physiology, elimination of these bacteria can result in changes in the digestion of foods and absorption of nutrients.
Potentially more serious is the replacement of normal gut flora with disease-causing microorganisms which results in diarrhea and bowel inflammation. A simple approach to avoid this is to eat probiotic foods, such as yogurt, which contain cultured bacteria that compete with disease-causing microorganisms and promote replacement of the normal gut flora.
