Dietary patterns and their relationships to sarcopenia in Portuguese patients with gastrointestinal cancer: An exploratory study

Abstract Background and aims The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the main dietary patterns of a Portuguese population of patients with GI cancer and to analyze their association with sarcopenia. Methods Prospective study with a consecutive sample of 100 patients with gastrointestinal cancer enrolled at diagnosis. Dietary intake was assessed with a Semi-quantitative Food Frequency questionnaire, and dietary patterns were obtained with principal component analysis. Nutritional assessment was done using the Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment and body composition was evaluated with anthropometric measures and Computerized Tomography image processing obtained at the 3 rd lumbar vertebrae. Sex and Body Mass Index specific cutoffs by Martin et al were used to define sarcopenia [1] . Results Four major patterns were identified: high fat dairy products, fried snacks and processed meat diet, legumes, vegetables and fruit diet, fat and fish diet and alcohol, cereal and animal protein diet. On simple logistic regression, the occurrence of sarcopenia in subjects in the second (OR: 0.30; CI95%:0.10-0.83, p=0.02) and third tertile (OR: 0.24; IC: 0.08-0.69, p=0.01) of adhesion to the high fat and fish diet was reduced in comparison with the first tertile. On multiple logistic regression, the second tertile (OR: 0.37, CI95%:0.11-1.17, p=0.09) of the fat and fish dietary pattern maintained a trend towards a reduction of the odds of sarcopenia, compared with the first tertile, independently of calorie intake, age, disease location and stage. Conclusion Fat and fish pattern was associated with lower odds of sarcopenia in this population of GI cancer.