Prospective study to assess taste related to eating disorders during chemotherapy using a dietary app: OISHY study.

Abstract

302 Background: Adverse events (AE) such as nausea, vomiting, dysgeusia, oral mucositis, and anorexia during chemotherapy can lead to eating disorders. Nutritional specialists provide supportive care by intervening based on these symptoms. However, individual patients have diverse taste complaints, making assessment difficult. Recently, dietary apps have been developed that offer dietary recommendations and enable patients to record meals based on the patient's condition. In this study, we utilized a dietary app to record meals and quantify taste. The aim was to objectively assess the details of taste for AEs related to eating disorders. Methods: Patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer between March 2021 and June 2022 at our hospital who received chemotherapy were included in the study. Patients searched for food recommendations using the dietary app according to their symptoms and recorded their meals. For each meal, the amount of intake and taste were recorded. Taste was recorded on a scale of 1-100 for sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami, and spicy, with 1 indicating the weakest flavor and 100 the strongest. AEs that could cause eating disorders were assessed using CTCAE ver. 5.0 and taste was examined for each AE. Results: A total of 18 patients (9 with esophageal cancer, 8 with colorectal cancer, and 1 with gastric cancer) were enrolled in this study. Palliative chemotherapy was given to 9 patients and preoperative chemotherapy to 9. AEs (any grade) related to chemotherapy-induced eating disorders were anorexia in 13 patients, dysgeusia in 12, nausea in 10, and oral mucositis in 7. Median food intake and taste scores for all patients were 95.7%, sweet 50.1, salty 50.6, sour 49.6, bitter 48.4, umami 52.0, and spicy 49.5. When assessed by CTCAEs, the following were found: anorexia 94.0%, sweet 49.8, salty 50.7, sour 48.5, bitter 48.0, umami 52.0, spicy 47.0; dysgeusia 95.7%, sweet 48.3, salty 51.3, sour 48.0, bitter 46.2, umami 53.2, spicy 45.6; nausea 92.0%, sweet 50.1, salty 50.6, sour 49.4, bitter 45.8, umami 50.3, spicy 46.4; and oral mucositis 94.1%, sweet 47.6, salty 50.4, sour 47.0, bitter 48.9, umami 52.0, spicy 47.0. Compared with all patients, in anorexia there were no obvious sensitivities for any tastes, but the intake amount was decreased. In dysgeusia, patients less strongly perceived sweet and spicy, but more strongly perceived salty and umami. In nausea, the patients ate less and less strongly perceived bitter, umami, and spicy. In oral mucositis, sweet and sour tastes were perceived less strongly. Conclusions: By using a dietary app, detailed taste could be quantified for chemotherapy AEs related to eating disorders. Further large-scale studies may be needed. Clinical trial information: UMIN000046647 .