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CompletedNCT02880709Updated Aug 29, 2016

The Effect of Special Diets in Hematological Cancer Patients

A Phase 4 interventional study of Special diet in Hematological Malignancy, sponsored by Jens Rikardt Andersen. Completed at 1 site in Denmark. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2016-08-29.

Sponsored by Jens Rikardt Andersen · Phase 4, Interventional, and Supportive care

Phase
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
32
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Major weight loss and taste changes are well documented in patients with hematological cancer during chemotherapy. It has previously been documented, that such patients have preferences for much umami, a little sweet, sour and salt, and no bitter. The purpose of the study was to convert these results into real diets. Patients participated in two sensory pilot studies (n=10), where dishes were tested for preferences before and after chemotherapy. From these results four dishes were selected and tested on 32 patients in 30 days in a cross-over design. The diets resulted in a beneficial and statistical significant difference in weight development (p= 0.0008), with 1.2 ± 1.9 kg (+2%) in the intervention period and -2.8 ± 5.2 kg (-4%) in the control period. This difference persisted after sensitivity analysis (± 10%) p= 0.005. However, the nutritional intake was still low in both periods, and the treatment with cytarabin turned out to be a major confounder as dosage was significantly higher in the control period.

Read the detailed description

The study was approved by the regional scientific ethical committee, and was registered in ClinicalTrial.gov NTC no………...

Patients were selected consecutively with acute and chronic leukemia and lymphoma, Hodg-kin's lymphoma, and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in treatment with chemotherapy.

Eligible patients were aged >18 years, and only patients who were able to com-municate and understand written and oral information and receive food orally were included. The special diets were developed at the Central Kitchen at Rigshospitalet Initially, two single blinded pilot studies of five patients were performed, with the same inclusion and exclusion criteria as the main study. In the first study patients tested 17 dishes with a taste-mix of dominating umami, a little sweet, sour and salt, and no bitter. In the second round six dishes were selected based on the results from the first round. All dishes had a high energy-density, with a protein content of at least 5 g/100 g. Every dish was tested both before and after chemotherapy. Patients rated acceptability on 9-point scales.

The clinical controlled cross-over design with two periods of four weeks, intervention and control, tested four dishes selected after the second pilot study. 32 patients were included in that trial, and they started with their habitual diet as control and then switched to recommendation of introduction of the four dishes selected.

The patients registered their weight every time they were at the hospital. During the intervention period the patients received a recipe booklet with the four dishes and a noted every time they ingested one of these. Compliance measurements were based on this registration. Patients had access to the dishes when in-patients, but they did their own cooking at home. It was possible to buy the similar dishes as pre-prepared meals in the supermarkets. The dishes in the final study were: Chili con Carne, Chicken in Curry, Curry Soup and Pasta Carbonara with added curry.

Data were analyzed with R (version 2.15.3). In histograms used to show the degree of acceptability for the dishes in the pilot studies, answers above 5 were graded as high grade of acceptance. To present descriptive statistics, the results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD), median (interquartile range (IQR)) and range. As the data did not show a normal distribution, Wilcoxon rang-sum tests (paired and unpaired) were used. Analyses were carried out both according to intention-to- treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) principles. As many of the data sampled, especially the subjective ones, sensitivity analysis (± 10% correction of the results) were performed.

02

Conditions studied

  • Hematological Malignancy
03

In context

Hematologic Neoplasms

1,494 studies on the registry are indexed under Hematologic Neoplasms; 438 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 32 is below the median of 45 across 1,090 interventional studies indexed under Hematologic Neoplasms.

Browse Hematologic Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Jens Rikardt Andersen is the lead sponsor of 24 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Hematological cancer
  • Ongoing chemotherapy
  • Ability to eat by mouth
  • Informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Lack of the ability to understand the informations given
  • Lack of the ability to understand the conditions of the experiment
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Study design

Phase
Phase 4
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
32 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Special diet

    Special diet with taste, energy-and protein content adjusted according to previous finding

    Dietary Supplement: Special diet

  • No intervention
    Usual diet

    Patients habitual diet

Interventions

  • Dietary supplementSpecial diet

    Tate and energy content adjusted with spices to obtain maximal intake

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Weight loss

    Time frame: 30 days

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Hematological clinic
    Copenhagen, 2100, Denmark
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Nov 2013, a primary completion of May 2014 and a completion of Aug 2014. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Aug 23, 2016
First posted
Aug 26, 2016
Start
Nov 2013
Primary completionActual
May 2014
CompletionActual
Aug 2014
Last update
Aug 29, 2016
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 29, 2016, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02880709
Lead sponsor
Jens Rikardt Andersen
Responsible party
Jens Rikardt Andersen (Associate Professor, MD, MPA, University of Copenhagen) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Aug 26, 2016
Start date
Nov 2013
Primary completion
May 2014
Completion
Aug 2014
Last update
Aug 29, 2016

Study contacts

Jens Rikardt Andersen, MD,MPA
principal investigator · University of Copenhagen

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2016. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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