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.