Cystic Fibrosis Nutrition--Chewing the Fat

Survival data for successive birth cohorts of cystic fibrosis infants born in the twentieth century have shown consistent improvements. More recent UK and US data suggest a plateau in improvements for clinically relevant outcomes. Better treatment of malnutrition has arguably been the most important advance in CF care, but despite this nearly a half of the UK CF population has a sub-optimal BMI. Nutritional decline typically occurs in late childhood and early adult life. Addressing poor adherence and more targeted multi-disciplinary interventions to prevent or reverse this pattern are key to achieving better outcomes for CF patients in the future.