Research paper
Whey protein isolate supplementation improves body composition, muscle strength, and treatment tolerance in malnourished advanced cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy
Study answer
What this study found
Whey protein isolate plus counseling was beneficial overall, improving cellular health, body composition, muscle strength, and chemotherapy tolerance over 3 months. Phase angle increased by 0.20 b0 in the WPI group versus -0.28 b0 in controls, with a mean difference of 0.48 b0 (95% CI 0.05 to 0.90; P = .027). Standardized phase angle, FFMI (P = .041), body weight (P = .023), and handgrip strength (P < .001) also improved, while quality of life did not change significantly (P = .35). Chemotherapy toxicity was lower with WPI, including overall toxicity risk reduction (P = .009), fewer multiple…
- Study & population
- Randomized 1:1 trial in malnourished adults with advanced mixed-type cancer who were candidates for or already undergoing chemotherapy, were not receiving artificial nutrition, and had ECOG performance status =2.
- Intervention
- Participants in the active arm received nutritional counseling plus two sachets per day of whey protein isolate (Prother; lipid- and lactose-free cow milk whey protein isolate) providing 20 g of protein daily.
- Key limitation
- The intervention period was short at 3 months, so durability of benefit is unknown.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
In recent years, whey proteins (WP) have attracted increasing attention in health and disease for their bioactive functions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefit of WP isolate (WPI) supplementation in addition to nutritional counseling i…