TITLE:
The Role of Cooking for Hospital Food Service in Cancer Care-Units: Nutrition Is a Supportive Care While Cooking Appears to Be a Prescription
AUTHORS:
Philippe R. Pouillart, Elodie Gidoin-Dewulf, Cécile Foissy, Eva Joubert, Magali Thieulent, Odile Compère, Sif Bendjaballah
KEYWORDS:
Oncology, Side Effects, Translational Research, Therapeutic Cuisine, Food Services, Culinary Sciences
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Cancer Therapy,
Vol.7 No.5,
May
18,
2016
ABSTRACT: Cancer
cachexia and treatment-induced side effects can contribute to deterioration in
nutritional status in patients declining the quality of life and survival
rates. Culinary practices may provide new strategies to minimize the symptoms.
NEODIA (learning to live with a cancer on a day-to-day basis) is an observational program
whose objective is to better understand the occurrence of treatment-related
side effects as well as culinary and dietary habits in cancer patients followed
in the Cancer Unit of the Beauvais City Hospital, France. First study step in
2010 has investigated culinary solutions to improve the quality of life of the
patient at home. The present part tries in particular to answer the question if
the culinary advising is transposable to the offer of restoration proposed by
institutions of care in oncology. We first conducted an investigation on the
determinants of quality of life in patients currently treated in a hospital
service involving 41 people. In a second step, we are collecting information on
the food supply itself, using advising of some patient’s specially prepared to
test meals as a translational research expertise. The results of our survey show that patient’s
remarks constitute real guidelines to adapt the practices in culinary production
and healthy catering management. Based on these results, the consistency of frozen prepared
meals has been analyzed regarding their potential to regulate the under nutrition-inducing treatment-related side
effects. Conducted by the patient’s panel of the translational research group
the study highlights the benefits of agro-food products and margins of
progress.