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Nutrition of the Cancer Patient

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Advances in Nutritional Research

Part of the book series: Advances in Nutritional Research ((ANUR))

Abstract

Cancerous tissues, like parasites, derive the material necessary for their growth from the host. Like parasites, cancers do not contribute to the well-being of the host, rather the reverse, for animal experiments have shown that tumors grow at the expense of host tissues, independently of the host’s diet (White, 1945). It is clear, therefore, that tumors can cause catabolism of host tissues and if this occurs in the face of an inadequate dietary intake, the host will become malnourished and a variety of metabolic changes will occur.

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Dickerson, J.W.T. (1983). Nutrition of the Cancer Patient. In: Draper, H.H. (eds) Advances in Nutritional Research. Advances in Nutritional Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9937-7_6

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