Nutritional Oncology

Nutritional oncology refers to an increasingly active interdisciplinary field in which cancer is studied as a local and systemic disease. Cancer originates due to the changes in the genome and develops as a multi-step process. It might be affected at certain points in its natural history through nutritional factors, which can decrease the risk of cancer in swiftly increasing population of cancer survivors. Nutritional oncology can prevent cancer and is helpful in enhancing the quality of life of cancer patients, by calculating energy requirements, diet planning and counseling. Nutrition problems generally occur in tumors related to the neck, stomach, head, esophagus, intestines, liver or pancreas. Cancer treatments like stem cell transplant, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and hormone therapy can affect normal eating in patients. Some changes in diet can be done to aid the patient in getting the proper required nutrients. The foods which are high in vitamins, calories, minerals and protein are crucial for health of cancer patients. The various advancements in nutritional oncology are glanced at and their applications as well as ramifications are looked at in detail within this book. It will serve as a reference to a broad spectrum of readers.