White Wine or Nutritional Supplement in Improving Appetite in Patients With Cancer

OBJECTIVES: I. To compare white wine (Arm A) to non-wine nutritional supplement (Arm B) for the treatment of cancer-associated anorexia. II. To evaluate the side effect profile of white wine (Arm A). OUTLINE: Patients are stratified according to primary malignant disease (lung vs gastrointestinal vs other \[specify\]), severity of weight loss (excluding peri-operative weight loss) within the past 2 months (\< 4.6 kg \[\< 10 lbs\] vs \>= 4.6 kg \[\>= 10 lbs\]), age (\< 50 years vs \>= 50 years), and planned concurrent chemotherapy or radiation (yes vs no). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms. ARM A: Patients consume white wine with =\< 15% alcohol content twice daily for 3-4 weeks. ARM B: Patients receive an oral non-wine nutritional supplement (e.g., Boost or Ensure) twice daily for 3-4 weeks. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up every 6 months for 2 years.