Introduction:

oral nutritional supplements (ONS) are nutritional therapies used to treat malnutrition in cancer patients, therefore, innovation in these treatments, from nutrients to sensory quality, is essential to ensure their consumption.

Objectives:

to evaluate the organoleptic characteristic of different prototypes of oral nutritional supplements specifically designed for cancer patients.

Method:

cross-sectional, randomized, double-blind pilot clinical study in patients with any type of cancer, with or without oncological treatment, who tasted five ONS prototypes with different flavors (brownie, tropical, pineapple, tomato and ham) and different sensory qualities in order to evaluate their organoleptic characteristics (color, smell, taste, residual taste, texture and density) through a specific questionnaire.

Results:

thirty patients aged 67.5 ± 11.2 years and body mass index (BMI) of 22.3 ± 3.52 kg/m2 were evaluated. The most prevalent tumors were head and neck (30 %), pancreas (20 %) and colon (17 %); 65 % of the patients had lost ≥ 10 % of their body weight in six months. The best rated supplements by the cancer population were those with brownie flavor (23.67 ± 3.91 points) and tropical (20.33 ± 3.37 points), while the least valued were tomato (16.33 ± 5.44 points) and ham flavor (13.97 ± 4.64 points).

Conclusions:

cancer patients value the organoleptic characteristics of ONS with sweet flavors, such as brownie, and fruity flavors, such as tropical, much more positively. Less appreciated by these patients are those with a salty taste, such as ham and tomato flavor.

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