The possibility of feeding children with cancer, taking into account taste sensitivity at the outpatient stage

Rational nutrition plays a crucial role in ensuring the harmonious physical development and cognitive abilities of infants and young children, which is relevant in the context of pediatric oncology, at the outpatient stage. Children with cancer may have problems with feeding and nutritional status. These conditions require monitoring and often immediate intervention, as well as an individual approach to correction. The nutritional difficulties of young children suffering from cancer can be roughly divided into several categories. The first group includes difficulties with eating, such as impaired chewing, dysphagia, and changes in taste sensitivity. The second group is associated with appetite, including hyporexia and hyperrexia, selective appetite, and fear of eating. The third category includes disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and persistent metabolic changes. The fourth category is changes in the structure of nutrition and the formation of vicious eating habits. All these problems can significantly affect the nutritional status of children with cancer, which is reflected in tissue imbalance, lack or excess of body weight and negatively affects their health and quality of life. The causes of these disorders are diverse and can be related to both the direct effects of cancer, as well as side effects of treatment, as well as emotional stress. The development and implementation of personalized nutrition programs that take into account the needs of young children, meet all requirements in terms of composition, safety and taste, as well as those developed on the basis of scientific research, are the most important components of an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to monitoring such patients on an outpatient basis.

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