Abstract
Indirect evidence suggests that cancer anorexia is associated with specific aversions to macronutrients. To investigate this, patients with cancer anorexia and hospitalized control subjects devised 3-day menus comprising foods that they wished to eat. These foods were then provided for 3 days and the intakes of each food carefully measured. As expected, patients with cancer anorexia consumed substantially less energy than hospitalized control subjects (6.0 +/- 0.9 MJ vs 9.5 +/- 0.5 MJ, P < 0.001). However, macronutrient composition was consistently maintained in the patients with cancer anorexia. These data argue against cancer anorexia representing a state of macronutrient aversion.