abstract: Nutritional intervention for improving treatment tolerance in cancer patients

Summary:

Supplementation with ω3 fatty acids appears to offer benefits that are verifiable at a biochemical, clinical and functional level. Related literature, however, provides conflicting results; therefore further studies will be required to confirm their efficacy.

Supplementation with glutamine appears to support the efficacy of chemoradiotherapy treatment while reducing toxicity of the tissues and improving outcomes. Oral supplementation with branched amino acid appears to reduce the length of hospital stay, decrease morbidity and improve the quality of life, without any changes in mortality. Perioperative supplementation with arginine has shown a reduced incidence of complications and a significant increase in long-term survival.