The relevance between nutritional intervention on cancer patients' nutritional status and their continual process of accepting anti-cancer treatment

Due to the effects of cancer at various stages and harsh treatment processes, cancer patients often have low nutrient and dietary intake, which easily causes malnutrition. Relevant research indicated that the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) can be a tool for early screening and assessing the nutritional status of cancer patients. This study examined 179 cancer patients who accepted chemotherapy in a medical center's chemotherapy room in Taichung. These cancer patients were given nutritional interventions, including nutritional assessment and dietary guidance for those who accepted anticancer treatment for the first time and regular follow-up and problem-solving by a dietitian for those who were at high risk of malnutrition due to body weight loss and factors reducing dietary intake. For those cancer patients who had oral intake problems, the dietitian provided education about enteral nutrition through an intestinal route, and about formula preparation and proper consumption through tube feeding in order to improve their nutritional status. The study found that those cancer patients had significant increases in carbohydrate, fat, protein, and calorie intake through the nutritional intervention and education. When the relevance between nutritional intake and nutritional indicators was further examined, it was found that carbohydrate, fat, protein, and calorie intake were highly positive correlated with body weight. It was also found that carbohydrate and calorie intake were significantly correlated with hemoglobin. In conclusion, cancer patients can improve their nutritional intake through nutritional interventions, which further improves nutritional indicators.