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Copyright of Medicina (Buenos Aires) is the property of Medicina (Buenos Aires) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Medicina (Buenos Aires) is the property of Medicina (Buenos Aires) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Quality of life (QOL) is a concept assessing physical, psychological and social factors which are influencing the patients' well being. Cancer and its therapy induce severe metabolic changes associated with QOL impairment. These alterations contribute to an increased energy wasting and a decreased food intake. Besides, it may lead to tumoral cachexia due to the complex interactions between pro-inflammatory cytokines and the host metabolism. On the other hand, and beyond physical impairments and metabolic effects from cancer, patients often suffer from psychological stress, such as depression. A nutritional intervention should be implemented as soon as cancer is diagnosed. It should be appropriate to the individual needs of the patient, considering the type of oncologic treatment (whether it is curative or palliative), the clinical conditions and the nutritional status. The aim is to reduce or even revert nutritional status impairment, improve the general condition, and subsequently improve quality of life. The primary focus of nutritional intervention accompanying oncologic treatment intended to cure is on the optimization of the balance between energy waste and food intake. Thus trying to achieve further specific purposes such as a decrease of rate of complications and an amelioration of the response and tolerance to the oncologic therapy. The purpose of nutritional support in palliative care is controlling the symptoms related to food intake and delaying the loss of autonomy. And by this means maintaining or improving patients' QOL. It is corraborated by a literature review, that nutritional therapy should form part of the integral oncological support since it contributes considerably to a QOL improvement. Because of the possibility to identify the patients' needs and expectations by assessing their QOL it should be generally included into their nutritional evaluation to be able to tailor the adequate nutritional support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]