What Is It About Cancer That Causes Weight Loss?
August 9th, 2009 | 
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My wife has stage IV kidney cancer.Lately she has been losing weight,even though her latest scans show stable disease.Just wondering what is it about cancer that causes weight loss?
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The weight loss many people with advanced cancer experience may be caused by increased metabolism due to their disease, according to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer, (Vol. 93, No. 3: 380-383).
This means that it is especially important for patients with advanced cancer to increase their food intake to maintain body weight and optimize their health, say experts.
“We know that as the disease progresses, nutrition becomes a matter of concern,” says Terri Ades, RN, MS, AOCN, director of quality of life and health promotion strategy for the American Cancer Society (ACS). “Often patients are undernourished and lose weight, and we cannot fully explain why.”
In the study, Swedish researchers looked at food intake in almost 300 advanced cancer patients with solid tumors, age 30 to 90 years old. Participants kept a careful diary of everything they ate for four days. During that period, the research team measured the patients’ weight, weight loss, and resting metabolism.
More than 40% of these patients were 10% or more below their normal long-term weight levels, but this did not seem to be due to lower food intake. Almost half of them had an unusually high resting metabolic rate, but the people with high metabolisms didn’t seem to eat an extra amount of food.
“Usually when someone uses extra energy, they have a sense of hunger and eat more food, which provides the body with needed nutrients,” Ades says. “In this study, in this group of patients, that did not seem to happen.”
Cancer patients can have issues with weight loss for multiple reasons. One of which is lack of appetite due to
various treatments like Chemo. Another possible cause is depression associated with cancer. A third possibility is a higher necessary caloric intake because of infection or enlarged tumors. There finally is a cancer associated issue called Cachexia. It is a wasting syndrome that causes loss of muscle and fat. Aproximately half of all cancer patients suffer from it.
I hope that helps to answer your question.
idk sorry
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