Nutrition
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Although the nutritional approach, especially when delivered through a gastric or jejunal tube or in a central vein, is handled by the nutritional support team or a specialist in nutrition, it is the responsibility of the oncologist, who knows the natural history of the disease and the impact of the oncologic therapy, to identify the potential candidates for the nutritional support, to recommend the nutritional strategy and to integrate it within the oncologic program. If gastrointestinal function is preserved, the initial nutritional approach should be through oral supplementation, followed by tube feeding if previous attempts are unsuccessful or upper gastrointestinal tract is not accessible. Parenteral nutrition is the obligatory resort when patients are (sub)obstructed but it may also be a practical way to integrate an insufficient oral nutrient intake (so called "supplemental" parenteral nutrition). Depending on the patient's condition and the disease's stage, artificial nutrition may have a "permissive" role in patients receiving aggressive oncologic therapy or represent just a supportive treatment in patients likely to succumb from starvation sooner than from tumor progression.
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The aim of this study was to determine the effects of some polyunsaturated fatty acids plus phytomelatonin from walnuts in the development of mammary gland adenocarcinoma. ⋯ This study shows that melatonin, along with polyunsaturated fatty acids, exerts a selective inhibition of some COX and LOX activities and has a synergistic anti-tumor effect on a mammary gland adenocarcinoma model.
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Our knowledge of the macronutrient requirement of elderly cancer patient is still incomplete and mainly relies on studies of elderly (healthy) people and populations of cancer patients including both adult and elderly subjects. Patients with minor nutritional deterioration do not require any specific nutritional regimen, but cachectic patients do. ⋯ However, the final balance depends not only on the quantity of AA but also their quality: diets including a high percentage of essential AA and especially of branched-chain ones and leucine in particular, are advocated. Total fluid load should be prudent, around 25-30 ml/kg/d.
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Cancer in the geriatric population is a growing problem. Malnutrition is common in cancer. A number of factors increase the risk for malnutrition in older people with cancer, including chronic comorbid conditions and normal physiological changes of aging. ⋯ To contribute to the improvement of nutritional support of these patients, nurses need appropriate training to be able to identify risk for malnutrition and offer a range of interventions tailored to individual need. Factors to consider in tailoring interventions include disease status, cancer site, cancer treatment, comorbidity, physiological age, method of facilitating dietary change, and family support. This article identifies ways in which nurses can contribute to the nutritional support of older cancer patients and thus help mitigate the effects of malnutrition.
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The papers included in this section represent the effort of the Task Force on Nutrition of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology to synthetize the evidence-based concepts on nutritional support of the elderly cancer patients. In the attempt of presenting a comprehensive overview of the topic, the panel included experts from different specialties: basic researchers, nutritionists, geriatricians, nurses, dieticians, gastroenterologists, oncologists. Cancer in elderly people is a growing problem. ⋯ However, the awareness that elderly subjects account for a high proportion of the mixed cancer patients population, in some way legitimates us to extend some conclusions of the literature also to the elderly cancer patients. Although the topics of this Experts' Consensus have been written by specialists in different areas of nutrition, the final message is addressed to the oncologists. Not only they should be more directly involved in the simplest steps of the nutritional care (recognition of the potential existence of a "nutritional risk" which can compromise the planned oncologic program, use of some oral supplements, etc.) but, as the true experts of the natural history of their cancer patient, they should also coordinate the process of the nutritional support, integrating this approach in the overall multidisciplinary cancer care.