Extract: The causes of the losses of appetite and body weight in cancer patients remain poorly understood. The present review focuses on the contribution of learned food aversions to this problem. The growth of experimental tumors in rats is associated not only with declines in food intake and body weight but often with the development of severe learned aversions to the available diet. These aversions appear to contribute to tumor anorexia, since prevention of the aversions reduces the severity of the anorexia. Our research has been directed at assessing the contribution of learned food aversions to the syndrome of tumor anorexia. We also have begun to define the physiological bases of these aversions. Two categories of potential unconditioned stimuli in the acquisition of these aversions are 1) toxins or hormones produced by the tumor in excessive amounts, and 2) nutrient deficiencies induced in the host organisms as a consequence of excessive utilization of essential nutrients by the tumor. An understanding of the mechanisms involved in the development of these aversions may provide the basis for effective clinical interventions. In addition to its clinical significance, this work may provide a model for understanding the involvement of food aversion learning in other types of clinical and experimental anorexias.(author)
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