Taste preferences for oral nutrition supplements in patients before and after pelvic radiotherapy: a double-blind controlled study.
OBJECTIVE
No data exists about the effect of pelvic radiotherapy on taste preference for oral nutrition supplements, including elemental diet, which may prevent gastrointestinal symptoms if taken during pelvic radiotherapy. This double blind study aimed to: (1) examine the palatability of elemental, peptide and polymeric oral nutrition supplements in patients with pelvic malignancies compared with healthy controls (2) assess changes in taste preference following pelvic radiotherapy (3) develop a reliable scale to measure taste preference.


METHODS
Subjects blind tasted six 30ml oral nutrition supplement samples, one duplicated, before and after 5 weeks of treatment (or the same time interval for controls). A Likert scale was used to score preference.


RESULTS
Fifty patients and 50 controls were recruited. Before radiotherapy, patients had a lower mean preference for the peptide formulation than the other oral nutrition supplements (P<0.001). There were no significant differences in preferences between patients and controls (P>0.2 all supplements). Radiotherapy did not affect supplement preference.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with pelvic malignancy and healthy controls rate elemental nutritional supplements as highly as polymeric supplements and significantly better than peptide supplements. This trend continues even after pelvic radiotherapy. A Likert scale is a reliable tool in this scenario.
McGough
Camilla
C
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, The Royal Marsden Hospital, London SW3 6JJ, UK. camilla.mcgough@rmh.nhs.uk
Peacock
Natalie
N
Hackett
Claire
C
Baldwin
Christine
C
Norman
Andrew
A
Frost
Gary
G
Blake
Peter
P
Tait
Diana
D
Khoo
Vincent
V
Harrington
Kevin
K
Whelan
Kevin
K
Andreyev
H Jervoise N
HJ
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004750:Enteral Nutrition; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D005526:Food, Formulated / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010386:Pelvic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*