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Publisher Summary This chapter discusses nutrition and cancer. Nutrition plays important physiologic roles. Adequate nourishment is a prerequisite for maintaining host defense mechanisms. Age is a predisposing factor implying increased duration of exposure to environmental carcinogens. Deterioration in immune function either due to aging or malnutrition may allow for uninhibited tumor growth. Numerous dietary factors have been implicated in both cancer causation and prevention. Numerous metabolic changes may occur during the progression of tumor growth. Mineral deficiencies can also contribute to immune defects. The nutritional consequences of cancer may be categorized into local and systemic effects. Localized effects are prominent when the alimentary tract is the site of tumor. With gastrointestinal tumors, the limitation of food intake is most commonly the result of partial or complete obstruction. The obstruction of pancreatic or biliary secretions and malabsorption due to direct mucosal involvement may contribute to malnutrition. The obstruction of the intestinal lymphatics is frequently associated with a protein-losing enteropathy.