Danone Nutricia Research joins EIT’s Food4Health MuscleCancer project

To tackle the challenge of muscle loss in cancer patients, Danone Nutricia Research joined Food4Health’s MuscleCancer project that aims to incorporate nutrition and exercise into cancer treatment programs to prevent malnutrition and muscle mass loss.

Cancer treatment can be very demanding on the body with side effects such as nausea and vomiting, and taste alterations; between 30 to 85% of people with cancer become malnourished during the course of their illness, depending on the type, location, stage of the tumor and treatment1.

Malnutrition in cancer is associated with weight loss which is predominantly due to cancer cachexia a multi-factorial syndrome characterized by the ongoing depletion of muscle mass, with or without a loss of fat mass. This loss of muscle mass cannot be fully reversed by conventional nutritional support and leads to progressive functional decline. Low muscle mass in cancer has a prevalence of 15%-60% and a causative factor for:

  • Toxicity (dose limiting)2
  • Shorter time to tumor progression2
  • Postoperative complications3
  • Decreased survival2,4
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Research has shown specific interventions through tailormade nutrition or physical activity programs may prevent cancer-related muscle loss and enable patients to benefit fully from cancer treatment

The Food4Health project MuscleCancer aims to develop different solutions for the preservation of muscle mass in cancer patients that combine physical activity, eating habits and mobile applications.

Christine M’rini VP of Science & Health Specialized Nutrition at Danone Nutricia Research comments: “We proudly join project MuscleCancer to contribute to the development of a mobile app that will be co-designed with patients, their caregivers and healthcare professionals. People-centric, innovative solutions like this one are key to ensuring cancer patients receive the nutritional support they need, and medical nutrition becomes an integral part of cancer care.”

The app that is being developed as part of project Muscle Cancer enables live monitoring of a patient’s medical status and their physical and nutritional needs. On the basis of this, the app will provide customized meal plans and workouts, tailored for each patient. These customized plans are centered around a patient’s needs and will contribute to their adherence to the nutrition they have been prescribed, positively impacting their quality of life.

Yu-Mi Lee, Food4Health Project Manager from EIT Food welcomes Danone Nutricia Research saying: “We are pleased Danone Nutricia Research is a contributor to project Muscle Cancer. Their expertise in medical nutrition and the positive impact it can have on both the treatment outcomes and well-being of cancer patients will be instrumental in defining different solutions for muscle mass preservation.


Food4Health
 is a collaboration between EIT Health and EIT Food, that aims to mobilize major European players from industry, government, research and education, to improve the health and well-being of European citizens with innovations for healthy eating

  1. Nitenberg et al. (2000) Nutritional support of the cancer patient: issues and dilemmas. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 34:137-68.
  2. Prado CM et al., 2016 Proc Nutr Soc; 75(2):188-98;
  3. Lieffers et al., Br J Canc 2012;(107):931-936
  4. Antoun et al., J Clin Oncol 2010 Feb; 28:1054-1060

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