Flavor Aversion in Cancer Patients
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This paper concerns the topic of flavor aversion which develops in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It is an interesting subject to me because I have known people undergoing such treatment, and many of my friends have had family members or friends who have had to undergo chemotherapy treatment for cancer. The one thing that all these people notice is that they can no longer enjoy their favorite foods. One reason is because chemotherapy is very non-specific and is aimed at killing dividing cells. The mouth, and in fact the whole digestive system, has a lining which undergoes a lot of wear and tear, and so is continually being replaced. This presents a whole host of cells for the chemotherapeutic agents to work on, causing shedding of the death of the cells which are trying to replace those lost to normal wear and tear. This results in a loss of taste receptors, and also, some of the chemotherapeutic drugs leave a metallic taste in the mouth. For these reasons, food does not have its usual taste, and often has no apparent taste at all because the taste receptor cells of the taste buds have been temporarily destroyed and until new cells can grow to replace them, then sense of taste will be disturbed. Another major factor affecting these patients is that many chemotherapeutic agents cause nausea and vomiting, which is extreme in some patients. Because human beings, just like animals, can become conditioned in a classical Pavlovian manner, the nausea and vomit
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ple to develop a dislike for alcohol, and this was often used to try and cure alcoholics, and that cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy often developed an aversion to foods they ate just before nausea-inducing treatments (669). Food aversion is a major factor leading to anorexia in patients receiving chemotherapy. In animals, prior safe exposure to a novel food has been explored as a way to attenuate food or flavor aversion prior to pairing it with an illness-inducing agent, but this does not completely eliminate the linking of the food or flavor to the illness. This is type of inhibition is known as latent inhibition. Presenting a novel flavor along with the familiar flavor at the same time as the illness-inducing agent may also attenuate the response (670).
These researchers carried out an experiment in humans using flavor exposure manipulations designed to protect them against aversion induced by apomorphine (670). They used controlled pre-exposure to a flavor later used during conditioning (latent inhibition group), and introducing a novel flavor while the subjects were receiving the conditioning sessions (interference group). Control groups consisted of those who exhibited apomorphine-induced illness in the presenc
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Some common words found in the essay are:
, Batson Feldman, Siegel Kreutzer, UCS Bernstein, Taste Aversions, Dolgin Katz, ANV Taste, Psychological Science, CR Aversion, flavor aversion, cancer patients, undergoing chemotherapy, nausea vomiting, patients undergoing, patients undergoing chemotherapy, References Batsell, novel flavor, food aversion, food aversions, taste aversion, receiving chemotherapy, cancer patients undergoing, pediatric cancer patients, siegel kreutzer 1997, patients receiving chemotherapy,
Approximate Word count = 2716
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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