This issue has a crop of papers on nutrition; not a subject in which many doctors feel expert, but one that has an important contribution to supportive and palliative care. We have reports of studies on vitamin D, hydration in POEMS syndrome, malnourishment in children with neutropenia, outcomes in cachexia research, distress related to eating in terminal illness and dexamethasone used for anorexia.

My choice for this issue is Taylor and Pendleton's paper, ‘Progesterone therapy for the treatment of non-cancer cachexia—a systematic review’. This is exactly the kind of research we need to bring rational thinking to common clinical problems. Not that it brings anything that could be described as a breakthrough. Twelve randomised control trials and six non-randomised trials contributed results …