Evaluation of chemotherapy induced taste alterations and diet quality in breast cancer patients

Globally, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths. Tate alterations, which is one of the prevalent side effects of chemotherapy in breast cancer treatment, prevents patients from eating a healthy, adequate and balanced diet. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate chemotherapy induced taste alterations and diet quality of breast cancer patients. The study was conducted on 45 adult female patients with early or locally advanced breast cancer who were admitted to the medical oncology clinic of the private hospital between October 2022 to March 2023 and who had not yet started chemotherapy treatment. Before the first chemotherapy cycle, a questionnaire form was administered to the patients; anthropometric measurements and 24-hour dietary recall were taken; and the Chemotherapy Induced Taste Alteration Scale (CiTAS) was administered. When the patients came to the hospital for control tests 4-6 days after the 3rd chemotherapy cycle, anthropometric measurements, 24-hour dietary recall and the CiTAS were repeated. At the end of the study, no significant differences were found for the mean adequacy ratio (MAR) and nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) scores (p>0.05). The scores of "discomfort", "phantogeusia and parageusia" and "general taste alterations" from the sub-dimensions of CiTAS showed a significant increase (p<0.001). It was observed that patients with poor and moderate diet quality experienced chemotherapy induced "general taste alterations" more than patients with good diet quality (p<0.05). It was determined that a 1-point increase in the MAR score contributed to a 0.341-point decrease in the "decline in basic taste" difference (p<0.05). In conclusion, developing specialized nutritional programs for patients with breast cancer may prevent the deterioration of their diet quality during the treatment and contribute to the reduction of taste alterations.