The aim of the study was to assess the actual daily oral intake of energy,
protein, fat and
carbohydrate in relation to current recommendations in children with malignant disease during
chemotherapy and to follow their weight development. Dietary information was collected for 21 consecutive days via 7-day recording in 14 children, aged 5-16 years. The number of days with loss of appetite,
vomiting, and the number of days on
anti-emetic drugs were also recorded. The average daily energy intake decreased from 91% of the recommendation of the Swedish Nutrition Recommendations (SNR), before
chemotherapy to 69% after start of
chemotherapy. During days spent at home, the energy intake increased to 77% of SNR. Twenty-two per cent of the total energy intake during the hospital days came from
sucrose. On average, the children experienced loss of appetite on 50% of the days,
vomiting on 12%, and received
anti-emetic drugs on 38%. On admission, the average SD score for
body weight for the whole group was -0.09. The mean
weight reduction after 1 week was 0.19 SD (P = 0.05) compared to the admission weight. The
weight reduction 6 weeks (n = 10) and 3 months (n = 13) after the start of
chemotherapy was 0.10 SD and 0.37 SD (P = 0.04), respectively.