In his review of the Proceedings of the First International Workshop on
Respiratory Muscles in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, organized
in Montescano in 1986, Thomas K. Aldrich stated that "there is little
information on nutrition". We felt that the need to supplement the
evaluation of respiratory muscles by studying nutritional problems was
an important enough matter to justify producing a specific study on the
subject. This book is the result of the efforts made in this direction.
Since 1986, many of the problems associated with nutrition and
ventilatory function have been elucidated, and we hope that the contents
of this book may contribute towards spreading interest and knowledge in
this sector, particularly among those working in the field of
respiratory rehabilitation. The physiological and clinical aspects of
nutritional problems and the therapeutic approaches adopted in different
disease conditions are dealt with in these pages by some of the
best-known researchers in the field, providing abundant evidence, if any
should be needed, that rehabilitation is not merely exercise. The
picture strongly emerging over these last few years is that
rehabilitation is not merely a matter of knowledge of lung or
respiratory muscles, but also of heart-lung interaction, metabolic
equilibrium and nutrition. So much for recent developments, but what
does the future hold in store? May 1992 RENATO CORSICO Preface Nutrition
and ventilation are inextricably related.