Culinary Nutrition Interventions for Those Living with and Beyond Cancer and Their Support Networks: A Systematic...

People living with and beyond cancer often face ongoing challenges related to nutrition, wellbeing, and long-term health. Many individuals express a need for evidence-based, tailored dietary support, yet practical approaches to sustaining healthy eating behaviours remain limited. Culinary nutrition interventions, which integrate nutrition education with hands-on culinary skills, may help address these needs; however, their effects have not been systematically synthesised. This systematic review evaluates the impact of culinary nutrition interventions, delivered alone or in combination with physical activity or mental health components, on dietary intake, psychosocial and health-related outcomes, anthropometric measures, clinical and metabolic markers, and feasibility among individuals living with or beyond cancer. Following PRISMA guidelines, 18 studies were identified across PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science (last searched in April 2025) and narratively synthesised. A total of 1173 participants were included, with sample sizes ranging from 4 to 190 participants per intervention. Interventions were well received and rated as highly acceptable, with strong engagement and minimal adverse effects. Across studies, statistically significant improvements were reported in dietary intake (7/13 studies), quality of life (4/5), mental health (5/6), self-efficacy (2/3), symptom management (3/4), self-reported cognitive health (1/1), food-related behaviours (2/2), selected anthropometric measures (4/8), and selected metabolic biomarkers (4/6). The evidence suggests that culinary nutrition interventions hold promise as supportive, behaviour-focused strategies aligned with oncology nutrition guidelines and responsive to patient needs. However, due to heterogeneity across interventions and outcomes, and variability in methodological quality as assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, quantification of effects was not possible, limiting interpretation of the evidence. Further high-quality studies using comparable outcome measures and longer-term follow-up are needed to quantify the magnitude of effects, assess their durability over time, and inform the integration of culinary nutrition programmes into cancer care. This systematic review is registered under the PROSPERO ID CRD42024567041 and was funded by the RCSI Research Summer School Fund.