Effects of Nutritional Supplementation (Product 4808) on Acute Skeletal Muscle Protein Synthesis in Cancer Patients

The purpose of the study is to compare two different nutritional supplements with respect to their effect on building muscle, and to determine the factors that control the rate at which muscle tissue can be produced in subjects with cancer. After three days of receiving all meals from the Reynolds Institute on Aging in order to stabilize their diet, subjects will then return to the Institute to perform a single day study, where they will be given one of two supplements to drink. Blood will be taken from a catheter placed in one of their arms and three muscle biopsy samples will be taken from a leg. Subjects will have x-ray evidence of cancer and be 40 years of age or older in order to participate. It is the hypothesis that a nutritional supplement with a high amount of protein and containing leucine will target the metabolism problems in cancer patients.