[Nutrition in Cancer: Effective in Prevention and Treatment?]

Nutritional effects on cancer occurrence and on treatment outcome in cancer patients may depend on food preferences and on the quantity of foods supplied. However, it has been difficult to reliably show beneficial effects of specific dietary concepts on cancer incidence. On the other hand, obesity as a result of chronic overfeeding has been linked firmly to an increased risk of a number of cancers as well as on cancer recurrence after treatment. Metabolic consequences of obesity and other components of the metabolic syndrome may be responsible for inducing and/or promoting cancer growth and should be antagonized by regular moderate physical activity in healthy subjects and in cancer survivors. During cancer treatment and in patients with advanced disease, inadequate food intake and physical inactivity may lead to malnutrition, while recurrent and chronic systemic inflammatory reactions induce chronic catabolism with a preferential loss of muscle and cell mass, condition referred to as cachexia.