Background <p>Malnutrition is often overlooked as an extrapulmonary comorbidity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and there is limited information regarding the nutritional status of younger individuals with mild-to-moderate disease in outpatient settings. We assessed energy and protein intakes in mild-to-moderate COPD patients compared to a group of healthy non-smoking individuals (HNS).</p> Methods <p>COPD patients and HNS were recruited; anthropometric measurements were assessed via BMI and bioelectrical impedance, while nutritional intake was assessed using a 7-day food diary and the EPIC-Norfolk Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Low fat-free mass index (FFMI) was defined as (a) &lt; 15&#xa0;kg/m² for females and &lt; 17&#xa0;kg/m² for males (Schols in Eur Respir J 44:1504–1520, 2014) or (b) adjusted for age, sex and BMI (Wei et al. in Front Endocrinol 14:1185221, 2023).</p> Results <p>21 COPD participants and 15 HNS were recruited with a median age of 58.0 and 57.0, respectively [IQR: 55.0–63.0 and 50.0–60.0]. A significantly greater proportion of individuals with COPD had a low FFMI when using age-sex-BMI adjusted criteria (23.8 vs. 0.0%, <i>p</i> = 0.04). Using the estimated requirement threshold of 75%, more COPD patients did not meet nutritional protein requirements HNS (35% vs. 0%, respectively, <i>p</i> = 0.01).</p> Conclusions <p>Our findings suggest a potential opportunity for dietary intervention in younger individuals to prevent future sequalae of malnutrition in COPD.</p>