Prospective study of the effects of adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy on taste function and food hedonics.

Abstract

e20536 Background: "Taste changes" are commonly reported by people receiving chemotherapy. It is unclear to what extent this relates to altered taste function or changes to other aspects of the eating and drinking experience such as food liking or appetite. Methods: Women (n = 52) prescribed adjuvant chemotherapy underwent testing of taste perception, appetite and food liking before, during and after chemotherapy. Taste sensitivity was measured by correct or incorrect identification of prototypical tastants sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami. Perceived intensity of each tastant was measured on a 10cm Visual Analogue Scale. Liking of standard sweet and savory foods was measured on the 9-point hedonic scale. Appetite was measured on a 10-point scale. McNemar’s test was used to determine whether proportion of correctly identified tastants changed significantly from baseline at follow-up assessments. Mixed-effects models were used to estimate and test change in mean taste intensity, food liking and appetite from baseline at follow-up assessments. Results: Significant adverse effects were observed for taste identification, liking of sweet food and appetite close to chemotherapy administration. Notably different patterns of change were observed for identification of individual tastants. Conclusions: The demonstrated changes in taste function and food hedonics could be used to guide pre-chemotherapy education and have implications for dietary choice and nutritional outcomes. [Table: see text]