がん治療中の味覚変化と食事介入の取り組み

For patients with cancer, malnutrition is one of the most serious problems. Cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are effective for metastasis and tumor reduction as adjuvant therapy at the perioperative stage, in addition to prolonging the life of a patient and providing a radical cure. On the other hand, loss of appetite that is induced by the above treatment sometimes worsens the nutritional health of a patient. Therefore, it confers prolonged hospitalization and a delay in additional chemotherapy or surgery. Moreover, other side effects besides the loss of appetite due to chemoradiotherapy（hair loss, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, among others）can lead to worse nutritional health. Among these side effects, taste disorder is a major factor of decreasing meal intake and is a severe problem occurring frequently during treatment. However, its fundamental reasons, remedial measures, and treatments have not been established yet. In this article, we will report the previous basic research and clinical problems of dysgeusia that occurs during cancer treatment, and introduce a nutritional approach to preventing or improving dysgeusia.