Experienced oncologists acknowledge that the cancer anorexia/weight loss syndrome predicts a shorter survival for patients with advanced, incurable disease. Several powerful, well-conducted studies have borne out this clinical impression. DeWys et al. focused on weight loss in a multiinstitutional, retrospective review of 3047 cancer patients and observed that loss of more than 5% of premorbid weight predicted an early demise [1]. This prognostic effect occurred independently of tumour stage, tumour histology and patient performance status. Weight loss was also associated with a trend towards lower chemotherapy response rates.