other have defined it quantitatively as a BMI. more recently,it has also been used more specifically to describe wasting in life-threatening diseases such as cancer , AIDS, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and advanced organ failure where it is defined by a documented non-intentional weight loss of more than 6% in the previous 6 months, accompanied by catabolic condition and resistance to increased substrate intake.in the current guidelines this latter definition of cachexia has been adopted