Nutrition and dietary supplements: a review

Article: Nutrition and dietary supplements

A consensus is held that all tumour patients should be offered the opportunity for regular screenings for nutritional disorders, and their results should be monitored. This is because after cancer treatments, there is a high risk of metabolic syndrome. Healthy diets and regular exercise can help with this. Nutritional disorders are a huge issue for cancer patients because almost half of all advanced tumour patients experience eating and weight loss issues – this increases the threat of cachexia. Food intake should be kept normal (not through enteral tube or parenteral feeding) for as much as possible, with good nutrition reducing the risk of tumour recurrence. In palliative cases, hunger and thirst should be subjectively satisfied to alleviate distress.

This review by Arends J aimed to assess the role of nutrition in cancer patients, all the way to palliative cases.

Key learnings

Nutrition, as well as regular exercise, are incredibly important to improve tumour patient outcomes as well as reduce the chance of tumour recurrence. In palliative cases, patient nutrition should focus on relieving distress and allowing for a comfortable, dignified passing.

Reviewed by: Z. Beketova

Authors: Arends J

Published in: Inn Med 2022