title: Adapted ice cream as a nutritional supplement in cancer patients: impact on quality of life and nutritional status.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the impact of adapted ice cream as a dietary supplement on the quality of life (QLQ) of malnourished patients with cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present an exploratory prospective observational study comparing two patterns of nutrition in cancer patients admitted during the study period who presented malnutrition disorders: adapted ice cream (Group I: 39 patients) and nutritional supplements (Group II: 31 patients). Patients were selected from two different hospitals from the same Oncologic Institute. QLQ was evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and QLQ of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC QLQ C30). Nutrition was determined by the PG-SGA test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HADS showed significant differences in anxiety (p = 0.023) and depression (p = 0.011) at the end of the study only in Group I. QLQ-C30 revealed statistically significant differences in baseline measures of global dimension between the two groups (Group I: 40.64-56.36 CI; Group II: 25.70-43.11 CI; p = 0.017). Differences were also present in the social dimension (Group I: 77.42-93.51 CI; Group II: 55.85-82.85 CI; p = 0.039). Statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups at the end of the study in the global scale: Group I had 49.36-63.88 CI and Group II had 33.05-51.88 CI (p = 0.016), and in the fatigue scale: Group I had 36.19-53.83 CI and Group II had mean = 65.87, 52.50-79.23 CI (p = 0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The administration of ice cream could cover, in part, the social aspect of food and improve QLQ in malnourished cancer patients. These results are encouraging and deserve further confirmation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain. fcasas@clinic.ub.es
authors.forename: Francese
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Casas
authors.forename: Concha
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: León
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jovell
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corvitto
authors.forename: Remei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alfaro
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ángel Seguí
authors.forename: Eugeni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Saigí
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Massanés
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sala
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Librán
authors.forename: Angels
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arcusa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007054:Ice Cream; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires