In the new study, students will be involved with the patients one-on-one to motivate them "so they're really moving and strengthening those muscles. Dialysis takes three to four hours, so this is a unique opportunity to help this population become more active," he said.

Wilund and his colleagues hope to answer some very basic questions: What effects do protein supplementation and simple exercise have on heart disease, physical function, retention of muscle tissue, and bone strength in dialysis patients? And, when patients who are in a catabolic state expend more energy, will the breakdown of muscle tissue be arrested or exacerbated? The researchers will be assessing patients at the beginning of the study and again at 6 months and 12 months to find out.

"We think we'll see benefits because we hear anecdotes about dialysis patients who have begun to exercise and are able to walk into the clinic for the first time in years instead of arriving in a wheelchair, or patients who, after beginning an exercise program, are able to go upstairs and clean the second floor of their house after having not been able to do that," he said.

To date, no long-term trials have been conducted that would confirm that anecdotal evidence, he said.

Co-investigators on the project include Bo Fernhall and Eddie McAuley of the U of I's Department of Kinesiology and Community Health and Shane Phillips and Kalyani Perumal of the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Source: University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences