Sarcopenia, characterized by the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, represents a significant clinical concern among patients undergoing gastric cancer surgery. Postoperative individuals are particularly vulnerable due to gastrointestinal dysfunction, reduced nutrient intake, systemic inflammation, and treatment-induced metabolic stress. This condition is associated with higher complication rates, delayed recovery, chemotherapy intolerance, and decreased survival, underscoring the importance of early detection and effective nutritional management. This narrative review integrates and synthesizes recent evidence from clinical and experimental studies that explore the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and nutritional management of sarcopenia in gastric cancer. The review emphasizes key nutritional risk factors, assessment tools, and intervention strategies applicable to both preoperative and postoperative care. Validated methods such as SARC-F (strength, assistance with walking, rise from a chair, climb stairs, and falls), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and computed tomography imaging play central roles in identifying muscle loss and functional decline. Evidence suggests that protein-enriched diets, branched-chain amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids, and micronutrients such as vitamin D and antioxidants help preserve muscle mass and improve recovery outcomes. Exercise and rehabilitation further enhance these benefits by synergistically promoting muscle protein synthesis and function. Moreover, emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence–assisted nutritional monitoring, nutrigenomics, and biomarker-based personalization—represent promising directions for individualized care. Sarcopenia in gastric cancer is a modifiable and clinically significant condition. Integrating personalized nutrition with structured rehabilitation can markedly enhance functional recovery, treatment tolerance, and quality of life. Future research should aim to develop precision-based nutritional algorithms and standardized diagnostic frameworks to optimize outcomes in this high-risk population.

Citations

• Sarcopenia in breast cancer: prognostic values and emerging therapeutic strategies
  Bo Xiang, Dongyi Zhao, Tao Liu, Guiying Xu
  Frontiers in Surgery.2026;[Epub]     CrossRef
• Early Nutritional–Immune Biomarker Trajectories Following Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer: A Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study
  Catalin Dumitru Cosma, Vlad Olimpiu Butiurca, Dragos Molnar, Cosmin Nicolescu, Calin Molnar, Marian Botoncea
  Nutrients.2026; 18(17): 2862.     CrossRef

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2), has rapidly spread worldwide, causing many deaths, the number of which continues to increase. Global public health organizations and governments have advised on the adoption of various handwashing and hygiene guidelines, use of masks, and social distancing, along with isolation or lockdown protocols to prevent SARS-COV-2 spread. There are vaccines and drugs that are confirmed but still many human suffer from this disease. Important risk factors for SARS-COV-2 infection are similar to other viral infectious diseases as including influenza, hepatitis B, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and other lung infections. These diseases might be related to poor nutritional support, affecting the patient outcomes against COVID-19. In this review, we discuss some of the nutritional therapies currently being investigated for infectious diseases. Studies have shown that nutrition has the potential to prevent and mitigate viral infections. Micronutrients (vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, and E, B9, and trace elements, such as iron, zinc, copper, selenium, magnesium, and polyphenols) and macronutrients (carbohydrates, prebiotics, probiotics, protein [amino acids], and lipids [fatty acids]) affect the whole body, including the immune system, preventing viral entry and modulating clinical symptoms. This review discusses the importance of nutrition as a strategy to understand food groups and key nutrients that may affect the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients during the ongoing pandemic. Scientists believe that the likelihood of another pandemic is imminent. COVID-19 remains important and scientists believe it will continue will in the future. We emphasize the lack of studies on the nutritional impact of COVID-19 in terms of nutrition, even though nutritional interventions has been shown to have many advantages during the treatment of viral infections.

Citations

• Guidelines for nutrition counseling in primary healthcare clinics
  Gyeongsil Lee, Seung-Won Oh
  Journal of the Korean Medical Association.2024; 67(4): 278.     CrossRef
• Vitamin-mineral complexes to help adult patients frequently suffering with acute respiratory viral infections: A review
  Dmitry I. Trukhan, Natalya V. Bagisheva
  Consilium Medicum.2024; 26(3): 164.     CrossRef
• Association between influenza vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection and its outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis
  Binshan Jiang, Qiangru Huang, Mengmeng Jia, Xinai Xue, Qing Wang, Weizhong Yang, Luzhao Feng
  Chinese Medical Journal.2022; 135(19): 2282.     CrossRef