Nutritional care in cancer patients: Initiatives and perspectives of the Italian Intersociety Working Group for Nutritional Support in Cancer Patients

• Published in: Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.) Los Angeles County, Calif.), 2021-11, Vol.91-92, p.111358-111358, Article 111358
• Main Authors: Caccialanza, Riccardo, De Lorenzo, Francesco, Lobascio, Federica, Gnagnarella, Patrizia, Iannelli, Elisabetta, Traclò, Francesca, Delrio, Paolo, Tancredi, Richard, Pedrazzoli, Paolo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Associations; Bill of Rights-US; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Clinical trials; Collaboration; Dietetics; Humans; Italy; Malnutrition; Malnutrition - etiology; Malnutrition - prevention & control; Medical prognosis; Neoplasms - complications; Neoplasms - therapy; Nutrition; Nutrition therapy; Nutritional status; Nutritional Support; Oncologists; Oncology; Palliative care; Parenteral nutrition; Patients; Quality of Life; Working groups
• ISSN: 0899-9007; 1873-1244
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nut.2021.111358

Malnutrition is a frequent comorbidity in people with cancer, associated with poor tolerance of anticancer treatments, prognosis, and quality of life. Despite the abundance of scientific literature supporting this evidence and the availability of international guidelines for managing nutritional care in people with cancer, attitudes about this issue still vary considerably among oncologists, to the point that many patients who are malnourished do not receive adequate nutritional support. In view of this, the Italian Association of Medical Oncology, the Italian Society of Artificial Nutrition and Metabolism, and the Italian Federation of Volunteer-based Cancer Organizations implemented in 2016 a collaborative working group and initiated a structured project called Integrating Nutritional Therapy in Oncology, with the aim of increasing oncologists’ awareness of nutritional issues and consequently improving the nutritional care of cancer patients in Italy. In 2019, the Italian Society of Oncological Surgery and the Technical Scientific Association of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics joined the working group. In this article, we present the updated initiatives and the perspectives of this intersociety project. •Attitudes about malnutrition still vary considerably among Italian oncologists.•Many cancer patients with malnourishment do not receive prompt and adequate nutritional support.•Inadequate nutritional care should be considered ethically unacceptable.•More efforts are still needed to improve the quality of nutritional care in Italy.•The Italian Intersociety Working Group for Nutritional Support in Cancer Patients continues its activity to improve nutritional care in oncology.