The cancer killer you might never suspect

Appetite for Life

What’s one of the very first questions every cancer patient should be asked on the day his disease is diagnosed?

Unfortunately, too many cancer patients are NEVER asked this critical question: How’s your appetite?

Stay strong

A recent Associated Press report underlines just how important it is for doctors to monitor their cancer patients’ dietary habits and changes in appetite.

For many patients, their cancers AND their treatments may prompt a number of conditions that affect appetite, including nausea, diarrhea, constipation, difficulty swallowing, sores in the mouth, etc.

The result: cachexia – a condition characterized by reduced vitality, weight loss, and decomposition of muscle. In fact, according to the National Cancer Institute, cachexia is the actual cause of death in about one in five cancer patients.

Colleen Doyle, nutrition chief at the American Cancer Society, told the AP, “Patients who are well-nourished as they’re going through treatment have shorter hospital stays, are better able to tolerate treatment.” She added that these patients also tend to have higher quality of life.

Primed with protein

The AP report notes that cancer patients generally need twice as much protein and about 10 percent more calories compared to the average healthy person. But tumors prompt production of inflammatory compounds that can also contribute to cachexia.

This is where high levels of omega-3 fatty acids might be very beneficial to a patient’s nutritional profile. In the e-Alert “Crossed Purposes” (2/16/06), I told you about a University of Iowa study that tested nutritional therapy on 200 patients with cachexia. Researchers found that a daily high-calorie/high-protein supplement, enriched with vitamins C and E, and about 2 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, resulted in a significantly higher rate of weight gain, increased lean body mass and improved quality of life compared to subjects who received a similar supplement, but without the added vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids.

In another study from the same University of Iowa team, more than 40 cancer patients with moderate to severe malnutrition were given high doses of omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil supplements.

Several subjects dropped out of the study due to side effects, which included diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. But 24 subjects stabilized their weight and six either achieved their normal body weight or gained more than five percent of their pre-study weight. Among these patients, quality of life scores improved as well.

Six patients lost more than five percent of their body weight, so the intervention wasn’t entirely successful. But the UI team noted that more positive outcomes might be seen in patients whose illness and malnutrition is not so severe and who can continue taking the supplements for more than a month.

Cancer patients should talk to their doctors before supplementing with fish oil.

But this actually isn’t the first time we’re writing about cachexia. In fact, it’s featured in “Tomorrow’s Cancer Cures TODAY” – a new book written by HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D.

In it, you can discover 25 highly effective cancer treatments that most conventional doctors have never even heard of.

Find out how you can protect yourself and your family from this dread disease in “Tomorrow’s Cancer Cures TODAY.”

Sources:
A Taste of Help to Keep Cancer Patients’ Pounds Up” Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press, 5/18/09, ap.org

“Phase II Study of High-Dose Fish Oil Capsules for Patients with Cancer-Related Cachexia” Cancer, Vol. 101, No. 2, 7/15/04, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

“Fish Oil Helps Some Cancer Patients with Wasting” Anne Harding, Reuters Health, 8/6/04, reutershealth.com