Effect of Exercise With and Without HMB on Body Composition and Muscle Strength in Sickle Cell Anaemia

Overview

Wasting is a common and significant problem in sickle cell anaemia (SCA) that correlates with poorer clinical outcome such as frequent painful crises, acute chest syndrome and sub normal resistance to infection. Thus, improvement of nutritional status in SCA holds the potential of ameliorating the course of the disease. Elevated haemolysis and its effects are associated with hypermetabolism and have resulted in higher rates of protein breakdown and synthesis, and energy expenditure. Offering more food has not optimized nutritional status and metabolic performance in free-living patients with SCA. Moreover, appetite might be suppressed. Supplementation with β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB), which is produced in the body from leucine, has been shown to have inhibitory effect on protein breakdown and to promote lean tissue synthesis in humans with sarcopenia. Also, HMB has been implicated as an ergogenic tool to promote exercise performance and skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Therefore, the investigators hypothesize that in individuals with SCA, an intervention of resistance exercise with HMB supplement will have a greater enhancing effect on muscle mass and strength compared to receiving resistance exercise without HMB.

The investigators aim to measure muscle strength, body composition and whole body protein oxidation in two groups of adults with SCA within one week before and after 9 weeks of intervention in a randomized, double blinded study. One group (n =12 ) will receive an intervention of resistance exercise and HMB supplement, and the other group (n=12) will receive resistance exercise and a placebo (maltodextrin). Participants will be assigned a study code and all information and samples will be stored under the assigned code.