Conditioned food aversions in cancer chemotherapy

This research investigated the following: (a) Can chemotherapy patients acquire conditioned aversions to novel as well as familiar foods which are consumed prior to postchemotherapy nausea? (b) Does nausea facilitate aversions, and if so, what aspects of nausea are important? (c) Do aversions to familiar foods in the regular diet or decreases in preference result from associating these foods with posttreatment nausea? (d) Do novel foods consumed before chemotherapy act as a scapegoat foods to interfere with aversions to other foods consumed later? Twenty-six adult cancer chemotherapy patients participated. They were divided into novel and familiar groups. At the conditioning trial the novel group consumed a novel exposed food and the familiar group a familiar exposed food before a chemotherapy treatment. At the testing trial, subjects were offered the exposed food and a comparison food before a chemotherapy treatment. Novel food aversions were significantly more likely than familiar food aversions. The novel group as a whole showed conditioning but the familiar group did not. However, a few familiar subjects developed aversions also. Nausea facilitated food aversions. Time of onset of the most intense nausea was the only aspect of nausea that was significantly correlated with strength of aversion. The novel food acted as a "scapegoat". That is, familiar subjects were more likely to decrease hedonic ratings for regular diet items consumed after treatment than novel subjects. Novel subjects were also significantly more likely to increase ratings for these regular foods than familiar subjects. When all foods consumed during the prenausea period were familiar, nausea was more likely to be associated with foods consumed closest to nausea onset. But when novel as well as familiar foods were consumed, the novel food was more likely to be associated with nausea regardless of time elapsed between consumption and illness. Aversions to foods in the regular diet were reported but their incidence was not statistically significant. Clinical recommendations to prevent the formation of conditioned taste aversions during the course of chemotherapy are given.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio