ALB and cancer: Although in recent years, ESPEN no longer recommends the use of serum albumin to identify adult malnutrition, and indicates that the decrease of serum albumin level is more indicative of the development of inflammation than malnutrition [55], ESPEN guidelines continue to recognize that inflammation is an important potential factor that increases the risk of malnutrition [55,56], suggesting that decreased serum albumin is associated with an increased risk of malnutrition in cancer patients.