It is well established that a decline in nutritional status is associated with poor quality of life and increased morbidity and mortality. Cancer cachexia (CC) is thought to affect 50-80% of patients with cancer. Its aetiology is multifactorial and complex, driven by pro-inflammatory cytokines and specific...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disorder in which abdominal pain is associated with defaecation or a change in bowel habits. Disordered bowel habits are typically present, eg. constipation, diarrhoea, or a mix of constipation and diarrhoea, as are symptoms of abdominal bloating and...

Feeding a baby is a frequent parental concern regardless of whether it is the first or fifth child. Many parents (and health professionals) feel infants should ‘take what it says on the side of the tin’ or do exactly what the book says. However, rather than expecting children to eat by the ‘rules’, infants and...

The prevalence and severity of childhood obesity has been increasing in recent years in Ireland and worldwide.¹ Currently in Ireland one in five children aged between five and 18 years is overweight or obese.^2,3 From 1990 to 2008, the incidence of obesity among the Irish teenage population increased from 1% to...

The American Academy of Pediatrics clinical diagnosis and management guidelines define sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) “as a disorder of breathing during sleep characterised by prolonged partial upper airway obstruction and/or intermittent complete obstruction (obstructive apnoea) that disrupts normal...