Cancer anorexia/cachexia, a major problem in many patients with advanced incurable cancer, causing substantial morbidity and mortality. Pursuant to this, multiple placebo-controlled clinical trials have been conducted to try to address this clinical problem. These have clearly demonstrated that there are agents which can alleviate, at least to some degree, cancer anorexia/cachexia. Progestational agents, such as megesterol acetate and medroxyprogesterone acetate, and corticosteroids are helpful for stimulating appetite in patients with advanced incurable cancer. These drugs are relatively well tolerated and worth utilizing, for symptomatic patients, in clinical practice. Nonetheless, these agents all have less than ideal efficacy and they can cause some toxicity, therefore limiting their utility. Thus, the search for alternative agents for alleviating this symptom complex continues. A variety of other agents, including hydrazine sulfate, dronabinol, fluoxymesterone, cyproheptadine, and eicosopentanoic acid (EPA), looked promising enough in pilot evaluations to lead to phase III controlled clinical trial evaluation; none of these, however, withstood the test of controlled clinical trial evaluation. Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) has also been studied extensively, but, with few exceptions, is not considered to be helpful in patients with advanced cancer anorexia/cachexia. There are other agents that look promising enough, from pilot study evaluations, to warrant further study in controlled clinical trials. These include creatine, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and agents designed to inhibit cachectin, such as etanercept and infliximab. Having established that cancer anorexia/cachexia can be a major clinical problem, and that agents to reverse this problem are desirable, it also needs to be stated that anorexia and cachexia can be part of the normal dying process. There are many patients with advanced incurable cancer who have cancer anorexia/cachexia but for whom anorexia and cachexia are not major bothersome symptoms for them. Given that the available antidotes have limited efficacy and some toxicity, and that there is a lack of information to suggest that utilization of them will improve mean patient survival or quality of life, it is important to teach health care providers and family members that treatment of cancer anorexia/cachexia has its limitation. Trying to “force-feed’ patients can be counter productive and is not recommended. Rather, support of patient desires regarding eating, plus gentle encouragement regarding eating, is the preferred course.