Research

Mixed

While HP-HMB supplementation significantly reduces mortality and improves nutritional status (SGA class) and body weight at 30 days, it does not significantly reduce the rate of nonelective hospital readmission in malnourished older adults.

If you are an older adult hospitalized for heart or lung issues and are malnourished, using a high-protein HMB supplement will likely help you gain weight and improve your nutritional status, and it may save your life. However, you should not expect it to prevent hospital readmissions on its own.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
There was no significant difference between groups for the primary composite endpoint... No significant differences were observed between groups for the 90-day readmission rate.
Nicolaas E.P. Deutz et al. · Clinical Nutrition · 2016

Why this rating

Robust RCT design, clear negative finding for readmission.

Source

Readmission and mortality in malnourished, older, hospitalized adults treated with a specialized oral nutritional supplement: A randomized clinical trial

Nicolaas E.P. Deutz et al. · Clinical Nutrition · 2016

DOI 10.1016/j.clnu.2015.12.010

rct · n=652Cited 466×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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