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The Effect of Nutrition Intervention with Oral Nutritional Supplements on Pancreatic and Bile Duct Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy.
Kim, SH, Lee, SM, Jeung, HC, Lee, IJ, Park, JS, Song, M, Lee, DK, Lee, SM
Nutrients. 2019;11(5)
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Plain language summary
Despite the advantages of chemotherapy, it can cause cancer-related malnutrition leading to both reduced quality of life and reduced survival rate. Oral nutritional supplements (ONSs) provide balanced nutrients, calories, and protein to complement insufficient oral intake, and ONS provision during treatment may improve nutritional status. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of ONS on nutritional status in patients undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic and bile duct cancer. Patients were randomly allocated to the ONS group (15) and non-ONS group (19) and dietary intake and body weight were assessed at weeks 1, 2, 4 and 8. Body composition and quality of life was assessed at baseline and week 8. This study found the supply of ONS helped promote health by increasing body fat mass, improving quality of life and decreasing fatigue symptoms in pancreatic and bile duct cancer patients. These results were more pronounced in patients in the first cycle of chemotherapy. Based on these results, the authors conclude ONS may improve nutritional status by increasing fat mass and/or maintaining the body composition of patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Abstract
Chemotherapy may negatively affect nutritional status and quality of life (QOL) in pancreatic cancer patients. Our aim was to investigate the beneficial effects of oral nutrition supplements (ONS) on pancreatic and bile duct cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Among patients with progressive pancreatic and bile duct cancer receiving chemotherapy, the ONS group (n = 15) received two packs of ONS daily for 8 weeks while the non-ONS group (n = 19) did not. Anthropometric measures, dietary intake, nutritional status, and quality of life were assessed. ONS significantly increased daily intakes of energy, carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids at 8 weeks compared to the baseline. After 8 weeks, fat mass significantly increased in the ONS group. For patients in their first cycle of chemotherapy, body weight, fat-free mass, skeletal muscle mass, body cell mass, and fat mass increased in the ONS group but decreased in the non-ONS group. Fat mass increased in second or higher cycle only in the ONS group. Patient-generated subjective global assessments (PG-SGA) and fatigue scores in the Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ-C30) improved in the ONS group. ONS might improve nutritional status by increasing fat mass and/or maintaining the body composition of pancreatic and bile duct cancer patients with chemotherapy, especially those in the first cycle, and alleviate fatigue symptoms.
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Food Exclusion Based on IgG Antibodies Alleviates Symptoms in Ulcerative Colitis: A Prospective Study.
Jian, L, Anqi, H, Gang, L, Litian, W, Yanyan, X, Mengdi, W, Tong, L
Inflammatory bowel diseases. 2018;24(9):1918-1925
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Plain language summary
Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is a chronic debilitating inflammatory bowel disease that may need lifetime management. Dietary management of UC by eliminating food antigens that may be causing a delayed immune response is one of the approaches used widely to manage the disease. Food intolerance, mediated by immunoglobulin G antibodies in response to food antigens that are otherwise harmless, could be one cause of UC. Low levels of digestive enzymes may result in poor digestion of glucose, amino acids, and glycerol, followed by an immune reaction that leads to food sensitivities. Ninety-seven UC patients were enrolled in this open-label, stratified, prospective, randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effect of an elimination diet versus a sham diet (a normal healthy diet). Following an IgG-specific exclusion diet for six months resulted in the alleviation of UC symptoms and an improvement in health-related quality of life. Further studies are needed to confirm the effectiveness of the exclusion diet since the intervention group did not show a significant reduction in IgG antibody levels. These results can be used by healthcare professionals to understand the potential role of exclusion diets in the management of UC.
Abstract
BACKGROUND Most patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) rely predominantly on medication for disease control. Diet interventions can reduce pharmaceutical expenditures and prolong remission. We designed a prospective study to evaluate whether an immunoglobulin G (IgG)-guided exclusion diet would improve symptoms and quality of life (QoL) in patients with UC. METHODS The 6-month diet intervention included 97 patients with UC, who were randomly divided into an intervention group (n = 49) and a control (n = 48) group. Individual diet plans were created for the intervention group according to IgG titers; the control group ate a healthy diet as normal. Observational indices included disease activity, extraintestinal manifestations, nutritional status, and QoL. Relationships between food-specific IgG antibodies and these indices were also analyzed. RESULTS At baseline, there were no significant differences between the groups. Food-specific IgG antibodies were detected in 70.10% of participants. After intervention, the Mayo score was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (2.41 ± 0.89 vs 3.52 ± 1.15, P < 0.05). The number of patients with extraintestinal manifestations decreased from 7 to 2 in the intervention group and from 6 to 5 in the control group. As for nutritive indices, the intervention group had higher mean body mass index and albumin than the control group (23.88 ± 3.31 vs 21.50 ± 6.24 kg/m2, respectively, P < 0.05; 48.05 ± 6.39 vs 45.72 ± 5.48 g/L, respectively, P < 0.05), whereas prealbumin and transferrin were not significantly different between the groups. QoL improved after food exclusion (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS An IgG-guided exclusion diet ameliorated UC symptoms and improved QoL. Interactions between IgG-based food intolerance and UC warrant further study.