Advanced clinical nutrition: combining sensory perception with nutrition to enhance quality of life for epidermolysis bullosa patients

This research project was awarded the 2024 Birmingham BRC Collaboration Fund

Status: Ongoing

We aim to address critical challenges in the nutritional management of patients with Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), leveraging innovative methodologies to enhance their quality of life.

Patients suffering from EB and other ulcerative and erosive oral diseases often face malnutrition due to suppressed eating habits, which impairs recovery. In the most serious cases, patients need liquid food. This can often remove the enjoyment of eating, leading to food boredom. In some patients, this can also cause or worsen stomach problems.

This project proposes a solution to deliver a rounded nutritional diet whilst replicating everyday food attributes without the risks of trauma from food to oral soft tissues. By combining multiple structuring techniques, the project aims to create advanced oral nutritional supplements; edible materials with snack food-like sensory attributes, but with high nutritional value.

Project aims

As part of this project, we will:

• bring together academic, clinician, and patient groups to define both nutritional requirements and desired sensory attributes for the foods
• define a set of design rules to structure nutrition into new food products
• fabricate candidate foodstuffs and undertake sensory trials to assess patient-reported outcomes