Body composition and dietary intake in neoplastic disease

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Abstract
Changes in body composition in 37 cancer patients were studied over a period of 6 months. Total body nitrogen was measured by prompt γ neutron activation; total body potassium by whole body counting, and total body water with the use of the tritium isotope. The nitrogen balance of patients with neoplastic diseases varied from marked negative to positive. Initially, the patients were divided into two groups: those who lost body weight (over 10%) and those who maintained or gained body weight before the study. Analysis of body composition indicated that patients who lost body weight had caloric and protein intakes markedly below “normal” levels at the beginning of the study. There also appears to be a direct relationship between the protein intake and the total body potassium/total body water ratio in the cancer patients. At the end of the 6-month study, the patients were again placed into two groups on the basis of weight loss or gain (and maintenance). Changes in body composition over the period were analyzed in terms of lean body mass, its protein constituent, water, and fat. Weight loss was found to reflect primarily the loss of fat, water, lean body mass (potassium), and only to a minor extent the protein component of lean body mass (nitrogen). Further, on the basis of the values of the ratios of total body nitrogen/total body potassium/total body water, it was possible to ascertain the relative normalcy of the body tissue gained or lost in the 6-month period. The results of the present study suggest that the ratio total body nitrogen/total body potassium may serve as the best indicator of recent or ongoing catabolism or anabolism of the neoplastic process. By means of the application of the techniques used in this study for the determination of body composition, it should be possible to assess regimes of hyperalimentation for cancer patients who lose body weight.