Food intake patterns and foodservice requirements on a marrow transplant unit

Marrow transplantation (MT) is used for treatment of lymphomas and hematological malignancies. The preparative regimens (including high-dose chemoradiotherapy), as well as infections, medications, and graft-versus-host disease, result in nutritional complications. In order to determine foodservice needs, hospital personnel tabulated the foods requested and the daily number of meals ordered by 205 MT patients the final 14 days before their initial post-transplant hospital discharge. Oral and total (oral plus parenteral) caloric intakes were calculated from weighted food intake records using a computerized nutrient database. Per patient meal orders increased from 2.6 +/- 2.2 (SD) to 5.3 +/- 2.0 per day, and the mean number of items per day increased from 4.9 +/- 4.9 to 12.4 +/- 4.9, 14 days vs. 1 day prior to discharge. Beverages were the most frequently requested item, followed by bread products and cooked fruits and vegetables. Patients consumed approximately 60% of total calories from oral intake 1 day prior to discharge. The foodservice must be designed to provide a variety of foods served at frequent intervals to meet the needs of MT patients and thereby reduce dependence on parenteral nutrition.