Table 2.

Major studies addressing neutropenic diet (ND) in pediatric oncology patients.

Title of the Study, First Author, Year [Ref]	Type of Study	Objective	Population	Outcome
Feasibility and Safety of a Pilot Randomized Trial of Infection Rate: Neutropenic Diet Versus Standard Food Safety Guidelines, Moody K, 2006 [45]	Multicenter prospective randomized controlled trial	To evaluate the infection rate in pediatric cancer patients randomized to the ND or FDA-approved FSGs and assess tolerability and adherence to the diets.	19 pediatric oncology patients (ND n = 9; FSGs n = 10)	Infection rates for children on the ND were similar to those of patients following FSGs; the adherence rate was 94% for the neutropenic diet and 100% for the food safety guidelines.
A randomized trial of the effectiveness of the neutropenic diet versus food safety guidelines on infection rate in pediatric oncology patients, Moody K, 2018 [46]	Prospective randomized controlled trial	To study neutropenic infection rates in pediatric oncology patients randomized to FSGs versus the ND plus FSGs; study adherence to the diets and acceptability.	150 patients were randomly assigned to FSGs (n = 73) or ND + FSGs (n = 77)	ND offers no benefit over FSGs in the prevention of infection; diet adherence in the FSGs group was higher than in the ND + FSGs group.
Lack of effectiveness of neutropenic diet and social restrictions as anti-infective measures in children with acute myeloid leukemia, Tramsen L, 2016 [47]	Multicenter analyses on AML-BFM 2004	To check the effectiveness of non-pharmacological measures, including ND.	339 patients treated in 37 institutions.	Dietary restrictions were not significantly associated with a decreased incidence of FUO, bacteremia, pneumonia, and gastroenteritis.

ND = neutropenic diet; FDA = Food and Drug Administration; FSGs = food safety guidelines; AML = acute myeloid leukemia; BFM = Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster; FUO = fever of unknown origin.