Enteral nutrition in wasting disorders.

Cachexia, weight loss, and malnutrition are found commonly in patients with gastrointestinal tract cancer and in patients with human immunodeficiency virus. This wasting has been linked not only to survival, but also to alterations in host defenses, functional ability, and quality of life in these patients. Enteral nutritional support has been provided to these patients with the goal of preventing or correcting malnutrition in an attempt to improve measures of mortality, morbidity, and quality of life. Studies presented in this review have examined the impact of the timing, the composition, and the route of nutritional support on these outcome variables to evaluate the use of enteral nutritional support in these wasting disorders. There remains a paucity of strong clinical evidence that supports any improvements in outcome variables associated with the provision of enteral nutritional support in these patients.