Oral Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2021

Preventing Cancer-induced Muscle Loss Through Exercise and Nutrition (#72)

Robin Daly 1
  1. Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia

Skeletal muscle loss is a common adverse consequence of cancer and its treatments and is a key feature of cachexia. Clinically this loss in muscle mass is important as it has been associated with greater morbidity, impaired physical function, greater treatment toxicity, and shorter survival. Exercise, particularly progressive resistance training, is recommended as a safe and effective approach to counteract muscle loss associated with cancer and its therapies, but there are conflicting findings in terms of its effectiveness from the available interventions. This presentation will provide an update on the latest research and prescription guidelines related to the effects of exercise for optimising muscle mass, strength, and function in cancer patients (before, during and after treatment), including the role of technology-supported interventions. In addition, since a net muscle protein balance is required to gain (or maintain) muscle mass, current nutrition guidelines for cancer-related muscle loss recommend a dietary protein intake of 1.0-1.5 g/kg/day along with adequate energy and vitamin D. This presentation will provide a review of the limited evidence available as to whether combining nutrition with exercise provides additional muscle benefits beyond exercise alone, and if multi-modal approaches targeting multiple risk factors linked to cancer-related muscle loss are also effective for combating muscle loss.