McCarthy 1999.

Methods	Randomised controlled trial. Duration 4 weeks.
Participants	40 adults (mean (SD) age treatment group 59.6 years (9.6 years), mean (SD) age control group 55.6 years (14 years) beginning a course of curative radiotherapy for stage 1 or 2 cancer. Nutritional status of participants unclear. 8 participants lost to follow up, 6 in the experimental group and 2 in the control group.
Interventions	Weekly nutritional counselling to maintain recommended dietary intake of calories and protein plus 8 oz of 1.0 kcal/ml nutritional supplement (n = 19) versus weekly nutritional counselling (n = 18).
Outcomes	Energy intake*.
Notes	Data obtained from authors.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Coin toss used to randomise participants.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not discussed.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Clinical outcomes	High risk	None measured.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Functional outcomes	High risk	None measured.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Nutritional outcomes	High risk	Paper states that assessments were made by the nurse and dietitian that implemented the intervention.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	8 participants lost to follow up, 6 in the experimental group and 2 in the control group.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All specified outcomes reported but presented in a figure and so not in a format usable for meta‐analysis. Mean change (SD) in energy intake obtained from authors.
Other bias	Unclear risk	Baseline variables given, the supplement group weighed less and received less radiotherapy.