Dietary intake of cancer patients on radiotherapy.

UNLABELLED The dietary intake of cancer patients can affect their nutritional status. OBJECTIVES To assess the dietary intake and nutritional status of head and neck cancer patients on radiotherapy. METHODS 24-hour recalls and anthropometric measures were taken during the first and third weeks of radiotherapy. RESULTS Of the 62 patients, significant reductions were found in arm muscle area (p = 0.001) and arm muscle circumference (p < 0.001), and 69% of patients had an average weight loss of 5.7% in three weeks. With regards to their dietary intake, reductions were found in energy (26.5 kcal/kg/d-21.3 kcal/kg/d, p < 0.001), carbohydrate (196.9 g/d - 180.5 g/d, p = 0.020), protein (1.19 g/kg/d-0.93 g/kg/d, p = 0.009) and fat (44.4 g/d-33.1 g/d, p < 0.001) intakes during the study period. DISCUSSION The changes that result from cancer radiotherapy led to reductions in dietary intake and negatively affected body composition measures.