One of the Side effects and harmful to undergo the chemotherapy in people sick with some kind of cancer that require this treatment is the loss of taste when eating. This problem that affects the 50% of patients It is usually, yes, transitory, disappearing three or four weeks after the process. However, during that time it would be much more pleasant for them regain flavor. Therefore, from the MD Anderson Cancer Center Spain Foundation adjacent to chef Ramon Freixa they are looking for a solution. The scientific-culinary project is under development, combining science and recipes. Learn more here.
Effects of chemotherapy on the palate
The taste changes are a common side effect of such treatment, as taste receptor cells share a crucial aspect with cancerous for this to happen. The fact of having a high regenerative rate by the stem cells that are renewing them continuously make them easy targets. Thus, the chemotherapy it also attacks these cells, reducing the sense of taste. For this main reason but which is somewhat unknown, the experts have got down to work. After treating a patient with this detected problem, the study of the MD Anderson Foundation.
La Dr. Pilar López Criado, Head of the Lung, Head, Neck and Melanoma Tumors Section of the Medical Oncology Service of M. D. Anderson, explains that this is "a real limitation." She saw the need to research the subject to regain flavor because it greatly influences the quality of life of these people. "It is a first professional approach that brings together specialists in oncology, nutrition, psycho-oncology, kitchen experts and patients," says the doctor.
On the culinary level, the chef Ramon Freixa, who already got a small step with a patient named Ana Isabel. «He explained to me that the smell of the egg produced a terrible rejection to him, so we began to work on how we could offer him that taste of the fried egg without its characteristic aroma. Thus, we mount the grilled white and, on the other hand, we infiltrate the yolk with a sauce, achieving the essence of the flavor. At the same time, we limited the odor that served as a barrier for Ana Isabel », she details Freixa. Furthermore, he went further by devising a menu for recover the flavor of others foods patient favorites: oysters, mussels, or fruit.
Is it possible to recover the flavor?
La work methodology during the investigation begins at previous interviews to select suitable patients based on symptom and food problems related to flavors. After that, Ramon Freixa He also talks with them to deepen "in more personal aspects, tastes of food and sensations they experience when eating certain foods." So, you can customize each menu while doctors contribute their knowledge of the reasons that cause that flavor alteration. Joint work to combat a problem that may even be aftermath after treatment.
In the future, the same researchers will address the issue of regain flavor lost in other treatments such as radiation therapy, targeted therapies, or immunotherapy. "This research can have many chapters, since taste disorders depend a lot on types of patients and treatments," he concludes Lopez Criado.
