special subjects
Involuntary Weight Loss
Treatment of Involuntary Weight Loss
The underlying disorder is treated. If an underlying disorder causes undernutrition and is difficult to treat, Overview of Nutritional Support should be considered. Helpful general behavioral measures include encouraging patients to eat, assisting them with feeding, offering snacks between meals and before bedtime, providing favorite or strongly flavored foods, and offering only small portions at each sitting. If behavioral measures are ineffective and weight loss is extreme, enteral tube feeding can be tried if patients have a functioning gastrointestinal tract. Measures of lean body mass are followed serially. Appetite stimulants have not been shown to prolong life. 