Pediatric Oncology Patient Taste Preferences for Nutritional Supplements

A dataset from a prospective, double-blind tasting trial involving 36 pediatric oncology patients aged 6–20 years in Germany. Participants evaluated commercially available oral nutritional supplements and a cocoa-based reference beverage on taste, appearance, and temperature using a 1–6 ordinal scale. The study was authored by Mark Rassner and published on figshare under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Compare patient acceptance of different nutritional supplement flavors based on taste ratings.
• Model predictors of overall liking based on sensory characteristics like sweetness and sourness mentioned in the description.
• Analyze qualitative taste descriptions to identify discrepancies between patient perception and manufacturer-declared flavors.

Strengths

• Data originates from a structured, double-blind clinical trial with 36 participants.
• Includes multiple assessment dimensions: overall liking, appearance, temperature, and perceived basic taste qualities.
• Statistical analysis using linear mixed models is described, suggesting a rigorous analytical foundation.

Limitations

• The dataset is small, with only 36 participants.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Geographic coverage is limited to pediatric oncology patients in Germany.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Prospective, double-blind tasting trial.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-25 04:33:08

Geography

Germany