Although specific inflammatory cytokines (such as interleukin (IL)-6, IL-11, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α)) were not further investigated and known for being present in tumor related inflammation [38], we hypothesize that the zero net change in REE found in our study might result from an elevated metabolic demand related to inflammation, obscuring the diminishing effects of the loss of FFM on REE [23]. Here, TNF is linked to neoplasm.