Evidence-based nutritional support of the elderly cancer patient

Abstract

The papers included in this section represent the effort of the Task Force on Nutrition of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology to synthetize the evidence-based concepts on nutritional support of the elderly cancer patients. In the attempt of presenting a comprehensive overview of the topic, the panel included experts from different specialties: basic researchers, nutritionists, geriatricians, nurses, dieticians, gastroenterologists, oncologists. Cancer in elderly people is a growing problem. Not only in almost every country, the proportion of people aged over 60 years is growing faster than any other age group, but cancer per se is also a disease of old adult-elderly people, hence the oncologists face an increasing number of these patients both now and in the next years. The are several studies on nutrition of elderly subjects and many other on nutrition of cancer patients but relatively few specifically devoted to the nutritional support of the elderly cancer patients. However, the awareness that elderly subjects account for a high proportion of the mixed cancer patients population, in some way legitimates us to extend some conclusions of the literature also to the elderly cancer patients. Although the topics of this Experts' Consensus have been written by specialists in different areas of nutrition, the final message is addressed to the oncologists. Not only they should be more directly involved in the simplest steps of the nutritional care (recognition of the potential existence of a “nutritional risk” which can compromise the planned oncologic program, use of some oral supplements, etc.) but, as the true experts of the natural history of their cancer patient, they should also coordinate the process of the nutritional support, integrating this approach in the overall multidisciplinary cancer care.