Development of a Non-invasive Assessment of Skeletal Muscle Loss in Cancer Patients

The long-term objective of this research is to develop a non-invasive approach for early assessment of which patients are at high risk for future development of skeletal muscle atrophy. The investigators hypothesize that the rate constant for the terminal portion of the isotope decay curve following ingestion of a single oral dose of deuterated-3-methylhistidine (D-3MH) provides an accurate measure of this increased risk and that this rate constant can be measured non-invasively from timed spot urine samples. In addition, the investigators hypothesize that ingestion of a meat-containing meal will stimulate synthesis of skeletal muscle proteins to a greater extent than a non-meat-containing meal.