Breakthrough Cancer Nutrition

Patients with cancer in Ireland have very high rates of involuntary weight loss, cachexia and sarcopenia. There are 200,000 cancer survivors in Ireland and 43,000 people diagnosed with cancer annually. Malnutrition is known to affect 40-80% of patients with cancer and negatively impacts tolerance to chemotherapy, quality of life and survival. Unfortunately in Ireland there are only 5 WTE oncology dietitians working in the HSE outside the Dublin region. This makes access to dietetic care very difficult for patients with cancer.
The aim of this project is to;
• modify (to ensure compliance with International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI)) and expand the second edition of ‘Eating Well with Swallowing Difficulties in Cancer’. This will involve testing existing recipes to ensure they comply with IDDSI, developing new IDDSI compliant recipes, doing food photography and working with a graphic designer to revise the first edition of this book. Once revised and printed it will be distributed to patients with cancer and swallowing difficulties throughout Irish hospitals and via the BCR website.
• revise and expand the initial book, award winning ‘Good Nutrition for Cancer Recovery’ (2013 and work with a graphic designer to lay it out in a fresh way so that it can be once again made available to Irish patients with cancer and malnutrition.
• to develop evidence-based content to put on a Breakthrough Cancer Nutrition website. This would include articles, videos (managing problems with appetite and eating, swallowing, nausea etc), recipes (video and text) for those with swallowing difficulties, poor appetites and also ones for survivors who need to follow healthy eating advice. This website will be developed to host all of the evidence-based cookbooks supported by BCR and also be a one-stop-shop for evidence based advice and interactive content on diet and nutrition during and after cancer treatment.

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Starting date
2020
Principal Investigator
Dr Aoife Ryan
Institution
University College Cork
Grant Funding
Breakthrough Cancer Research Project Grant
Breakthrough Research Priorities
1, 6

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