Macronutrient requirements in the malnourished cancer patient. How much of what and why?

Malnutrition is a prevalent problem in the hospitalized cancer population. Although the pathophysiology of cancer cachexia is incompletely understood, it assumes considerable clinical relevance because malnutrition is a potentially treatable problem associated with poor outcome. Once the clinician has made a decision to initiate enteral or parenteral nutritional support, the practical issue of macronutrient prescription necessitates review of existing animal and human data in order to formulate guidelines for nonprotein energy and nitrogen requirements for efficacious nutritional support in the malnourished cancer patient.