The influence of chemotherapy on food hedonics in a breast cancer population

Introduction: Food hedonics includes food liking and food wanting (appetite). It is well established that people receiving cancer treatment experience hedonic problems in relation to the eating and drinking experience. Anecdotally, patients commonly report a change in preference for sweet or savoury foods, but this has not been systematically assessed. Objectives: The objectives were to: 1. To describe the influence of chemotherapy on liking of sweet and savoury foods 2. To describe the influence of chemotherapy on appetite Methods: Women (n=38) scheduled to receive anthracycline- or taxane-containing chemotherapy were recruited. Liking of a standard savoury food (soup) and a standard sweet food (chocolate) were measured on a nine-point hedonic scale before and after commencement of chemotherapy treatment (baseline and time 1). Appetite was measured on a ten-point scale. Paired sample t tests compared baseline and time 1 scores. Results: Liking of savoury food did not change after the commencement of chemotherapy, whereas liking of sweet food decreased significantly (baseline to time 1 mean difference=1.1, 95%CI=−1.8 to −0.4, P=0.004). Appetite decreased significantly after the commencement of chemotherapy (p<0.001). There was a weak positive correlation between liking of savoury food and appetite at time 1 (r=0.411, p=0.01). Conclusions: These results have further elucidated specific patterns of food liking during cancer treatment. An understanding of the dietary manifestation of hedonic changes may further clarify how food liking drives dietary intake and nutritional status. This has implications for the way clinicians prepare patients for chemotherapy treatment.