The neutropenic diet: Are well-cooked vegetables still good sources of nutrients? A mini-narrative review.

A low immune response is fatal for humans because increased infection risk is related to both morbidity and mortality. The neutropenic diet is applied if a person's neutrophil count is <2000 cells/μL. When compared with standard nutrition treatment, the neutropenic diet is found to be related to deficiencies in dietary fiber, vitamins C, A, and D, magnesium, and calcium. This is also related to malnutrition in patients diagnosed with cancer. Although raw vegetables are good sources of these nutrients, they can also be sources of pathogen microorganisms. Thus, the consumption of well-cooked vegetables is an essential principle in the neutropenic diet. Although many cooking methods are available, pressure cooking is the most commonly used in neutropenic diet kitchens to reduce pathogen transmission risk. According to many studies, the cooking process is associated with significant nutrient loss. In particular, boiling is found to be related to losses in vitamins C, A, and K, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, calcium, zinc, manganese, magnesium, copper, and iron in different types of vegetables. Even though some studies have shown that standard nutrition treatment with the adoption of food safety guidelines does not increase infection risk and the neutropenic diet is related to malnutrition, no guidelines have thus far suggested the application of standard nutrition treatment in neutropenic patients. Consequently, additional studies are required to compare the beneficial and harmful effects of the neutropenic diet to a standard nutrition treatment and support the application of standard nutrition treatment with the adoption of food safety guidelines at least in mildly neutropenic patients.