The prevalence of colorectal cancer (CRC) is on a steady rise over the years, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting CRC as the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. While treatment modalities may differ in accordance to the staging and severity of the disease itself, chemotherapy is almost unavoidable in most cases. Though effective in its mode of action, chemotherapy is commonly associated with undesirable side effects that negatively affects the patient in terms of quality of life, and in some cases may actually interfere with their treatment regimens, thus escalating to poor prognosis. Gastrointestinal disturbances is a major side effect of chemotherapy and in CRC, gastrointestinal disturbances may be further aggravated and grave in nature mainly due to the affected site, being the gastrointestinal tract. The use of complementary therapies as adjuncts to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy in CRC patients is gaining prominence with dietary supplements being the most commonly employed adjunct. Some of the frequently used dietary supplements for CRC patients are probiotics, omega-3 fatty acid and glutamine. The successful crosstalk between these dietary supplements with important metabolic pathways is crucial in the alleviation of chemotherapy side effects.
Early assessment of malnutrition in cancer patients is very important. The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) is often used to assess malnutrition in adult cancer patients. However, the diagnostic values of MNA are controversial. We aimed to analyze the diagnostic values of MNA in assessing malnutrition in adult cancer patients. A systematic search was performed using Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, and China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP). Studies comparing MNA with other tools or criteria in cancer patients were included. The quality of the included studies was assessed by the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2). The pooled sensitivity, specificity, the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC), and the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were calculated using Stata 17.0 and Meta-DiSc1.4. In addition, sensitivity, subgroup, meta-regression, and publication bias analyses were conducted. In total, 11 studies involving 1367 patients involving MNA were included. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, ROC, and DOR were 0.84 (95% CI: 0.81-0.87), 0.66 (95% CI: 0.63-0.69), 0.84 (95% CI: 0.81-0.87), and 16.11 (95% CI: 7.16-36.27), respectively. In the assessment of malnutrition in adult cancer patients, MNA has high sensitivity and moderate specificity.
Background: The objective of the present study is to investigate the influences of sociodemographic and household factors on consumption expenditure on processed meat among households in Malaysia.Methods: Data were extracted from the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey (HES) 2016. Lognormal hurdle models were utilized to assess the likelihood of consuming processed meat and the amount consumed. The independent variables consisted of household heads' age, educational level, gender, marital status, employment status, ethnicity, as well as household income, household region and household locality.Results: Bumiputera households with younger heads were more likely to consume processed meat and spent more than households with older heads. Chinese and Indian households in a higher income group had a higher likelihood of consuming and spending on processed meat than those in a lower income group. The probability of consuming processed meat and the amount consumed were positively associated with being from East Malaysia and urban areas.Conclusions: There are distinguished roles of sociodemographic and household factors across ethnic groups in consumption expenditure on processed meat. Policy makers should take account of age, income, education, household region and household locality factors when formulating intervention measures.
Caffeine is a widely consumed stimulant, known for its positive effects on physical and mental performance. These effects are potentially beneficial for ameliorating cancer-related fatigue, which affects the quality of life of patients with cancer. This study aimed to determine the anti-fatigue and antitumor effects of caffeine in tumor-bearing mice. BALB/c mice were intravenously injected with C26 colon carcinoma cells and fed with normal or 0.05% caffeine-supplemented diet. Fatigue-like behavior was assessed by running performance using a treadmill test. Lung, blood, liver, muscle, and epididymal adipose tissue samples were collected on day 13 and examined. The antitumor effect of caffeine was assessed using subcutaneous tumor-bearing mice fed with 0.05% caffeine-supplemented diet, and the tumor volume was measured. C26 tumor-bearing mice showed fatigue-like behavior associated with hypoglycemia, depleted liver glycogen and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) levels. C26 tumor-bearing mice fed with 0.05% caffeine-supplemented diet showed improved running performance associated with restored NEFA levels. However, exacerbated hypoglycemia and liver glycogen levels after caffeine consumption may be due to tumor-induced catabolic signals, as the tumor volume was not affected. Collectively, caffeine may exert anti-fatigue effects through enhanced lipolysis leading to restored NEFA levels, which can be used as an alternative energy source.
Cachexia is an irreversible condition that involves a significant loss of body weight, muscle mass, and adipose tissue. It is a complex condition that involves a variety of metabolic, hormonal, and immune-related factors, with the precise mechanisms not yet fully understood. In this review, the prevalence of cachexia in different types of cancer as well as the potential risk factors was evaluated from literature retrieved from databases such as ScienceDirect, PubMed and Scopus. Potential risk factors evaluated here include tumor-related factors such as location, and stage of the cancer, as well as patient-related factors such as age, gender, and comorbidities. Several findings were observed where cachexia is more prevalent in male cancer patients than females, with higher incidences of weight loss and poorer outcomes. This may be due to the different muscle compositions between gender. Additionally, cachexia is more prevalent at the later stages, which may be brought about by the late-stage diagnosis of certain cancers. The anatomical location of certain cancers such as the pancreas and stomach may play a significant factor in their high prevalence of cachexia. These are sites of the synthesis of digestive enzymes and hormones regulating appetite. Cachexia is an issue faced by cancer patients which could affect their recovery. However, it is poorly understood, which limit therapeutic options. Hence, understanding this disease from different perspectives (clinical and pre-clinical), and bridging those findings could further improve our comprehension and consequently improve therapeutic options.