Care experience: support and nutritional care for cancer patients
Written by Catherine Van Larry
Receiving cancer diagnosis is an event that changes life, whether from the patient or from their loved ones. Within a few days, people go to be a husband and wife, or the father, son, sick and career. In Europe, 80 % of the care received in patients is performed in the long run by informal care providers (Family or Friends), and there are millions of Europeans who care about it 4.5 million people with cancer every year in Europe.
propagandaFears of the career about the patient’s feeding
IPSOS new research among sponsorship providers in Spain, Poland, France and Germany showed that 93 % of care providers relate to weight loss and muscle mass loss from their loved ones.
Since caregivers are the closest people to cancer patients, they are usually the first to notice the dietary complications that are manifested. In fact, all care providers (98 %) claim that they have noticed at least one food problem, such as loss of appetite or nausea, in their loved ones. These problems are caused by the disease itself and its treatment, which increases the risk of weight loss and muscle mass, as well as malnutrition.
Malnutrition and cancer
Care providers have causes of concern about the weight loss they notice in patients. It is a clear sign of malnutrition related to cancer that affects up to 80 % of patients. Malnutrition affects negatively For tumor treatment and recovery expectations From the patient, which led to more complications, an increased risk of infections, longer in the hospital and an increase in deaths.
Besides its serious impact on the lives of patients and caregivers to them, the regular pregnancy of malnutrition is enormous and adds about 120,000 million euros in cancer treatment expenses throughout Europe.
Despite its high spread and the harmful effects associated with it, cancer -related malnutrition is still slightly recognized. The malnutrition examination is not always integrated into oncology, solutions such as medical nutrition are always known by patients and care providers, nor is it an integral part of oncology policies or patient care paths.
propagandaMedical nutrition as an integral part of oncology treatment
In Danone Nutricia, we are convinced that medical nutrition is necessary to treat cancer -related malnutrition, a problem that affects most of these patients. It has been clinically proven that the medical nutrition, which is prescribed by a health worker, contributes to maintaining weight and muscle mass compared to any intervention, lower complications after surgery, carrying a better treatment, less than staying in the hospital and a higher quality than the patient. On the other hand, it can also help alleviate some of the basic concerns raised by caregivers in modern research.
However, it should be noted that 1 out of 3 of every 3 cancer patients have cancer -related malnutrition, but only one third receives the nutritional support he needs. This is partly due to the lack of awareness of the role of nutrition in caring for cancer, but also because losing weight is often considered inevitable when crossing this disease.
Invitation to work
All patients and providers deserve the best in their battle against cancer. In this sense, nutritional solutions can be of great support, so that all patients who need clinical nutrition must have access to them. The presence of a comprehensive approach to cancer, which systematically examines patients to detect malnutrition and provide medical nutrition when comfortable, is more necessary than ever. Therefore, Danone Nutricia enhances this approach to become an integral part of European cancer fighting planPlans to fight national cancer, as well as tracks and protocols to care for patients for cancer.
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¹ IPSOS EUROPEAN Inforial Careder Experience with 1000 sponsorship providers from France, Germany, Poland and Spain, data in the file, 2024.
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