ONS in Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Malnutrition is a major public health issue in low- and middle-income countries and forms part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals .Cancer is a systemic disease, since even in the early stages malignancies are accompanied by homeostatic imbalance, including metabolic deregulation and increased catabolism. These abnormalities may initially seem poorly discernible in the clinic, but with disease progression they may aggravate; and may cause overt cancer-related cachexia.GI cancers show higher mortality than any other kind of cancer. In 2020, they accounted for an estimated 3.5 million deaths worldwide, with a further 5.0 million new cases diagnosed in the same year . Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common type of GI cancer, being the third most common of all organ cancers after lung and breast cancers, whereas gastric, liver, esophageal, and pancreatic cancers are ranked the fifth, sixth, eighth, and 12th most commonly diagnosed cancers, respectively

Inclusion criteria

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GI cancer patients will be included in the study if they meet the following criteria:

• Confirmed cancer diagnosis any stage or metastatic confirmed by radiological and pathological or by clinical evaluation receiving neo/adjuvant chemotherapy treatment.
• Age above 18 years old
• Be accessible for chemotherapy treatment and follow-up
• Availability to administer oral supplements
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Performance Status ≤2
• Life expectancy ≥3 months.
• Written informed consent according to the local Ethics Committee requirements
• Willing to fill Nutrition questionnaires.
• Negative pregnancy test for pre-menopausal women before inclusion in the trial

Exclusion criteria

• The patients will be excluded from the study if they have the following criteria:

• Known hypersensitivity reaction to the investigational compounds or incorporated substances
• patients who are unlikely to comply with trial requirements (eg, confusion, psychological or mood disturbances ,alcoholism)
• Pregnancy or lactating
• Medical or psychological condition which in the opinion of the investigator would not permit the patient to complete the study or sign meaningful informed consent
• Age < 18 years
• Indication to or ongoing artificial nutrition support (totally compromised spontaneous food-intake) and incapacity or unavailability to consume ONS