Nutritional intervention is essential to cancer treatments. It can reduce hospitalisation length and treatment-related toxicity while improving nutrient intake, quality of life, and physical function. Nutritional intervention can help patients complete oncological treatments by preventing malnutrition, a common hallmark in cancers, especially digestive cancers. Up to 20% of cancer patients may die from malnutrition rather than cancer itself.

Universal access to nutritional support for digestive cancer patients is not a reality in many European countries. Health systems should invest in qualified staff to reinforce or create nutritional teams’ experts in digestive cancer treatments to change this situation.

The Impact Of Nutrition On The Lives Of Patients With Digestive Cancers is a DiCE Position Paper on the topic of nutrition. It aims to share the patient community’s perspective on the status and importance of nutritional intervention in digestive cancers.

This is an advocacy manuscript presenting data on the topic and analysing the current situations and the challenges for nutrition in digestive cancers. It highlights the importance of integrative nutrition in treating digestive cancers and advocates for equitable and universal access to nutritional intervention for all patients.

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Author:
Ruel Jacob