Nutrition and Huntington's Disease- A Review of Current Practice and Theory.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Nutition has long been of importance in the care of Huntington's disease (HD). The purpose of this review is to summarize recent research relevant to HD nutrition, and to describe some emerging theoretical approaches to research in this area.

RECENT FINDINGS: Clinical studies have identified swallowing problems and fear of choking as major impediments to maintaining nutritional status with HD. Tube feeding is associated with co-morbidities, and provides limited benefits. Non-human models of HD have been utilized to study diets and supplements. Application of findings from these models to humans has not been shown to be of comparable benefit. While studies of nutritional factors in non-human models of HD have shown some promising results, trials in humans have found little efficacy for diets or supplements. The complexity of human metabolic pathways may require a more sophisticated omics approach to identify and study more beneficial interventions.