More cancer treatments focus on food to combat weight loss

Excerpts from USA Today

The statistic is shocking: severe malnutrition and weight loss play a role in at least one in five cancer deaths. Yet nutrition too often is an afterthought until someone's already in trouble. A move is on to change that. At diagnosis, up to a quarter of patients already have their appetite sapped, and most treatments can bring side effects that worsen the problem. Aside from the well-known nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, some cancers inhibit absorption of the nutrients patients force down. Not to mention strangely altered taste, mouth sores, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing and constipation. About half of all cancer patients eventually suffer serious weight loss and malnutrition, a wasting syndrome called cachexia where they don't just lose excess fat but vital muscle.

A healthy person's body adjusts when it doesn't get enough calories, slowing metabolism to conserve nutrients. A cancer patient's body doesn't make that adjustment; metabolism even may speed up. The National Cancer Institute estimates cachexia is the immediate cause of death for at least 20% of cancer patients, although advanced cancer might have eventually claimed many of them. How much weight loss is too much? The institute defines patients as at-risk when they've lost more than 10% of their usual weight. Other research suggests that patients who lose more than 5% of their pre-cancer weight have a worse prognosis than people who can hang onto the pounds. For their best shot at doing that, the American Cancer Society urges patients to ask to be assessed by a licensed dietitian or nutritionist up front, right at diagnosis. While that's common at designated cancer centers, it's not routine elsewhere and surveys suggest just a third of patients have access to cancer nutritionists where they're being treated. "Patients who are well-nourished as they're going through treatment have shorter hospital stays, are better able to tolerate treatment," not to mention have better quality of life, says Colleen Doyle, nutrition chief at the society.

Bonnie - I have seen many cancer patients over the years and almost every one of them have better outcomes and a much easier time during treatment when they are vigilant about their individualized food and nutrient intakes. It is paramount that they are given the right advice. If someone gets a cancer diagnosis, seeing a licensed nutrition professional should be one of their first calls.