title: Nutrition in cancer: an overview.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide a review of weight loss, cachexia (both primary and secondary), and weight gain in cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Research reports, review articles, textbooks, and personal communications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Alterations in nutritional status have the potential to affect mortality, morbidity, and quality of life outcomes. The detection and treatment of malnutrition is important to success of therapy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nursing interventions to help maintain optimal nutritional status in patients with cancer include careful assessment, identification of patients at risk, and management of problems before the initiation of therapy.
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, USA.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bell
mesh_terms: D002100:Cachexia; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009859:Oncology Nursing; D015430:Weight Gain; D015431:Weight Loss