2.5. Assessments
cancer, nutritional decline, taste alterations
CANCER
Patient LBM was estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) using the Medical Body Composition Analyzer Seca 515/514. Estimates were carried out before each of the patients’ first four cycles of chemotherapy. The first estimate, before the first round of chemotherapy, is considered baseline. Before BIA, the patient’s age, height, and sex were verified from the patient’s medical journal and entered into the device. During measurements, the patients stood barefoot with hands and feet placed on electrodes while being measured with frequencies of 5 and 50 kHz. BIA was displayed as fat-free mass, in this study used as an equivalent to LBM.Patients were followed until before their fourth course of chemotherapy. Patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy had surgery scheduled after the third course of chemotherapy. As surgery has an impact on cancer patients’ metabolic response and constitutes a risk of nutritional decline [Change in patients’ ability to differentiate taste was measured by a single-blinded (patients were blinded), randomized sensory testing before each cycle of chemotherapy. The first test, before the first chemotherapy, is considered baseline.Patients tasted six different taste samples in random order: weak and strong sweet, weak and strong salt, and weak and strong umami. The weak tastes were above the detection threshold, and the strong tastes were above the recognition threshold for patients with cancer [Patients were asked to taste the numbered samples 1–6 and indicate, on a 100 mm long visual analog scale (VAS), how strong they perceived each of the six different tastes. A value of 0 mm indicated weakest; 100 mm indicated strongest. Baseline measurements were performed before the first chemotherapy. In this study, we wanted to test if CBD had an effect on taste alterations in patients receiving chemotherapy. Participants were patients without any formal training in sensory tasting. Consequently, we limited the taste material to consist of three of the “basic” tastes only, namely sweet, umami, and salty [