Bovine Lactoferrin Supplement in Improving Taste in Patients With Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy

Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients must have histologically or cytologically confirmed carcinoma of any site; the two exceptions are pancreatic cancer and colon cancer patients who are receiving oxaliplatin; those patients will be ineligible for participation in this current study but will be eligible for Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University (CCCWFU) 98112 instead
* There are no restrictions on the amount or types of prior therapy; eligible patients must be receiving ongoing chemotherapy that is planned to continue for at least one month following enrollment in this trial; any dose or schedule of chemotherapy administration is allowed as long as patients have self-reported taste disturbance that has either: 1) developed since the initiation of chemotherapy, or 2) a pre-existing, treatment-induced taste disturbance has subjectively worsened since initiating chemotherapy
* Patients must have normal baseline self-reported taste perception prior to the development of cancer
* Life expectancy of \>= 3 months
* Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients with a subjective history of an extreme dry mouth syndrome that prevents them from producing adequate amounts of saliva (approximately 2 mL in 15-20 min)
* Patients known to be human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive
* Patients with any of the following conditions: untreated gastrointestinal reflux disease; untreated diabetes mellitus; active thrush; active oral infection; active mucositis
* Patients who are pregnant or breastfeeding are excluded