Nutrition
A new patient-centered paradigm, which recognizes that treating patients for cancer requires adequate nutrition, is available, and key outcomes for cancer patients include the ability to:
Abstract
utrition is fundamental to everyday living and an integral part of the healing process. Oncology treatment can create a “healing burden” that can overwhelm even a healthy patient’s nutritional reserve. The cancer itself can impair appetite, digestion, and utilization of nutrients. Treatment can be lengthy and include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Each of these treatments may impose side effects or “road blocks” that interfere with adequate nutritional intake. Further, the adequacy of patients’ nutrition can change over the course of treatment, with progressive decline and weight loss a common occurrence. However, the belief that malnutrition is an expected and acceptable outcome of cancer treatment is outdated. A new patient-centered paradigm, which recognizes that treating patients for cancer requires adequate nutrition, is available. Key outcomes for cancer patients include the ability to: