Supplements may help to improve the dietary intake of those
who are unable to meet their nutritional requirements with
regular foods alone, despite dietary counseling; oral nutritional
supplements can provide energy, protein, and nutrients deemed
necessary to meet the patient’s needs, and represent a useful
method of support when food intake is a problem. The introduction
of a new supplement should be timed to optimize
acceptance and minimize aversion: Ideally supplements should
be introduced when the patient is symptomatically at his or her
best, for example, 3 or 4 d after a chemotherapy session rather
than immediately after when side effects are at their worst.
However, the success of supplementation depends on the
acceptability