Origins of nutritional imbalance in cancer.

Some parallels and differences are considered between the nutritional circumstances that favor carcinogenesis and those that favor tumor growth and host cachexia. From evidence on deletion of physiological feeding controls and changes in feeding behavior during tumor growth and from evidence on differences in sets of available feeding controls and in feeding behavior among normal individuals, it is suggested that acquisition of possibly carcinogenic dietary habits may originate, in part, from innate deficits in physiological feeding controls.