ABSTRACT
Malnutrition is a frequent šnding in cancer patients, in particular in advanced stages (Bozzetti et al. 2009). For a variety of tumours, malnutrition is associated with a poor outcome and its pathogenesis is complex. Some metabolic changes are directly cancer-related, e.g., increased liver, muscle protein or carbohydrate turnover and lipolysis. In addition, therapy-related symptoms like anorexia, dysgeusia, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea and mucositis add to a reduced uptake of regular food and contribute to malnutrition-with detrimental effects on quality of life, and possibly also on the tolerance of further therapy.
