Immunomodulatory diets in patients with gastrointestinal tract cancer: Integrative review

• Autor(a) principal: Guimarães, Thais Aline de Sousa Feitosa
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Silva, Luciana Carla dos Santos, Sales, Ana Lina de Carvalho Cunha
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Atenção à Saúde
• Texto Completo: http://seer.uscs.edu.br/index.php/revista_ciencias_saude/article/view/7608
• topic: mmunomodulation; enteral nutrition; gastrointestinal neoplasms; imunomodulação; nutrição enteral; neoplasias gastrointestinais

Introduction: The cancer patient undergoes a series of metabolic and nutritional changes due to the disease and the treatments used. Studies reveal that supplementation with enteral formulas and immunomodulatory diets with specific nutrients can improve nutritional status, immune system and act in the modulation of the inflammatory response. Objective: To analyze through the scientific literature, the effects of the use of immunomodulatory diets in surgical patients with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. Materials and methods: This is an integrative literature review study, carried out from May to July 2020, using articles indexed in the VHL, PubMed and SciELO databases through the descriptors: “enteral nutrition”, “surgery”, “cancer gastrointestinal "," arginine "," omega-3 fatty acids "and" glutamine ", combined with the Boolean operator" and ", available in Portuguese, English and Spanish published in the last 10 years. A total of 236 articles were found and 11 made up the sample after applying the inclusion criteria. Results: Studies demonstrate that supplementation with immunomodulatory diets in surgical patients with cancer of the gastrointestinal tract is effective, since they help to improve the inflammatory and immune response and nutritional status, reducing postoperative complications, allowing for better recovery and reduction of length of hospital stay. Conclusions: Based on the results, nutritional therapy with immunomodulatory diets can help in modulating the immune system, inflammation; reduce oxidative stress and risks of malnutrition in the perioperative period, making it a safe supplement.