Nutrición Hospitalaria

Phase angle assessment by electrical vector bioimpedance in women with cervical cancer

Introduction: cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women in the world. It is associated with a high body mass index. However, the phase angle has not been determined in women with cervical cancer. Electrical vector bioimpedance has been validated to assess body composition, nutritional status, and cell membrane integrity in cancer patients using phase angle. Objetive: to evaluate phase angle, body composition by electrical vector bioimpedance, and dietary intake in women with cervical diagnosis who are users of a second-level care hospital in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Methods: an observational, cross-sectional, and analytical study. Seventy women with a diagnosis of cervical cancer were studied in the oncology service. Phase angle was measured, and the frequency of food from the Nutritional Habits Assessment System and a questionnaire to measure socioeconomic level were applied. Results: the data of the phase angle in a mean of 4.66 ° ± 0.87 ° with a range of 2.9 ° to 6.2 ° In a multiple linear regression model formed for phase angle as a dependent variable, and evolution of the cervical cancer, body mass index, skeletal muscle mass, extracellular water, fructose, saturated fatty acids, and trans fatty acids as independent variables, had an R2 value of 0.748 with a p-value of 0.001. Conclusion: women with cervical cancer have integrity damage of the cell membrane with a lower phase angle than the reference population.

L-tryptophan as dietetic supplement and treatment for hot flashes, astenia, and insomnia in cancer patients

Introduction: in women with breast cancer and gynecologic cancer, as well as in men with prostate carcinoma, hot flashes, asthenia, and insomnia are common and bothersome symptoms that impair quality of life. Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of tryptophan intake as a treatment for hot flushes, asthenia, and insomnia in patients with prostate, breast, and uterine cervical cancer. Materials and methods: intervention study without a control group at the HUCA Radiation Oncology Service, from July 2018 to July 2019. A total of 60 patients with prostate, breast, or uterine cervical cancer who had received treatment with radiotherapy and hormone therapy, and who presented with hot flushes, asthenia, and insomnia were included. L-tryptophan was administered at a dose of 3 g per day. Results: a significant increase in serum tryptophan levels at the end of the study (p < 0.001) and a significant decrease in the scores of the study symptoms were reported. Although statistical significance was not found, a significant improvement in each symptom was observed, as well as an improvement in quality of life (p < 0.001). Conclusions: the study suggests that, in patients with breast, prostate, or uterine cervical cancer, and symptoms such as hot flushes, asthenia, and insomnia, the administration of tryptophan as a nutritional supplement is well tolerated, improves quality of life, and is associated with improvement in the scale scores of the symptoms of interest, although no statistically significant relationship with increased blood tryptophan levels was found.

Causal association of childhood body mass index with risk of endometrioid endometrial cancer — A two-sample Mendelian randomization study

Objective: this study aimed to investigate if childhood body mass index (BMI) causally contributed to the risk of endometrial cancer (EC), which had not been well answered. Methods: genetic instruments were selected using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with childhood BMI in European population from a large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS, n = 39,620). A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was performed to evaluate the effect of higher childhood BMI on risk of EC. The data for endometrioid EC was obtained from a GWAS dataset comprising 54,884 individuals (8,758 cases and 46,126 controls). Inverse variance weighting (IVW), weighted median, weighted mode, and MR-Egger regression approaches were applied. Results: we selected 16 SNPs with genome-wide significance in childhood BMI for the analysis. The IVW analysis provided a causal link between childhood BMI and EC (beta  =  0.408, standard error [SE]  =  0.088, p < 0.001). Similarly, the weighted median method also provided robust evidence for the causal correlation (beta  =  0.390, SE  =  0.119, p < 0.001). Although the MR-Egger regression did not achieve the same significance (beta  = 0.071, SE  =  0.362, p  =  0.848), it showed a minimal intercept value indicating small bias for directionality of pleiotropic effects (intercept  =  0.024; p  =  0.354). Through Cochran's Q test and visual inspection via funnel plot, the assessment of heterogeneity found no evidence of heterogeneity or asymmetry in our findings, further supporting the absence of directional pleiotropy. Conclusions: childhood BMI and risk of EC might be causally related, and early-life intervention on weight control might be considered for children to reduce the life-span risk of EC.

Influence of food or food groups intake on the occurrence and / or protection of different types of cancer: systematic review.

Introduction: the diet plays an important role in the origin and prevention of multiple chronic degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases or cancer. Objective: the main objective of this paper is to analyze the studies that are focused on researching the relationship between the consumption of the particular groups of foods and its importance on the increase and for prevention of the risk of cancer appearance. Methods: a bibliographical review was carried out in the main international databases (PubMed, Scopus and Nutrition Reference). The results were structured in two main sections: those related with the increase of cancer risk and food related with the increase of cancer risk. In the present review, 104 scientific articles have been evaluated. Results: the results have shown a positive association between red meat and colon cancer, alcoholic drinks and liver cancer, and salt and gastric cancer. The Mediterranean diet was associated in a preventive way with digestive and respiratory tract cancer. Conversely, no statistically significant association was found between dairy products and ovarian cancer, carbohydrates and sugars and pancreatic cancer, and tae and breast cancer. Conclusions: as a result, healthy eating guidelines, such as the Mediterranean diet, based on lower consumption of red meat, alcoholic drinks and salt, might contribute to reducing the incidence of colon cancer, liver cancer and gastric cancer.