Balanced Diet for Cancer Patients
Balanced Diet for Cancer Patients
For many cancer patients, maintaining a balanced diet and adequate nutrition is crucial. Sustaining good physical strength is the best support for fighting the disease.
Whether it’s a malignant brain tumor or pancreatic cancer, a balanced diet plays a critical role in both treatment and recovery. A proper diet can not only boost the immune system but also help alleviate side effects and discomfort from treatment.
It is essential to adjust dietary content and nutritional goals based on individual conditions and the advice of doctors and nutritionists. This should be tailored to the type of cancer, the stage of the disease, and other medical conditions. Regarding weight management, patients should strive to maintain a stable weight and minimize fluctuations. Adequate intake of protein and calories is vital for healing, fighting infections, and maintaining sufficient energy.
Avoiding harmful foods and regularly communicating with nutritionists and doctors to ensure the scientific validity and effectiveness of the dietary plan is an important step in managing health during and after cancer treatment.
Dietary Restrictions for Cancer Treatment
Brain Cancer Patients Should Pay Attention to the Following Dietary Restrictions:
- Avoid Raw Foods: Raw meats and fish may contain bacteria and should be avoided.
- Limit Alcohol Intake: Alcohol can interact with some treatment drugs and exacerbate discomfort, such as dry mouth and oral mucosal ulcers.
- High-fiber or Coarse Foods: Avoid foods that are hard to digest or may cause digestive issues.
- Control High-Salt Foods: High-salt diets can lead to edema or increased blood pressure.
- Saturated Fat Foods: These may increase cholesterol and body burden.
- Processed Foods: Reduce intake of foods with preservatives and artificial additives to lessen body burden.
- Irritating Foods: Decrease the intake of stimulating foods like coffee and spicy dishes.
- Grapefruit: Should be eaten with a time gap from medication to avoid affecting drug metabolism and causing side effects.
read more👉About Brain Tumor
Pancreatic Cancer Patients Should Pay Attention to the Following Dietary Restrictions:
- Avoid Raw Foods: Raw meats and fish may contain bacteria and should be avoided.
- High-Fat Foods: Fried foods and high-fat meats can increase the burden on the pancreas.
- High-Fiber or Coarse Foods: Avoid foods that are hard to digest or may cause digestive issues.
- High-Sugar Foods: High-sugar diets are unfavorable for patients, especially those who develop diabetes after a pancreatoduodenectomy.
- High-Sugar Fruits: Fruits like grapes and mangoes can affect blood sugar control.
- Spicy Foods: These can irritate the digestive tract and increase discomfort.
- Grapefruit: Should be eaten with a time gap from medication to avoid affecting drug metabolism and causing side effects.
read more👉About Pancreatic Cancer
Balanced Nutrition Guidelines
Patients with malignant brain tumors or pancreatic cancer often need surgery followed by further treatments such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Since the body requires extra energy and nutrients to heal surgical wounds and resist infections, nutritional supplementation should start before surgery. Surgery can cause discomforts like loss of appetite, difficulty chewing or swallowing, and feeling full quickly, all of which can lead to post-surgery malnutrition and hinder recovery. Additionally, long-term illness may result in anorexia or cachexia, further affecting nutritional intake and body function.
To maintain balanced nutrition for patients with poor appetite, the following methods can be tried:
- Small, Frequent Meals: Eat small portions every 2-3 hours or whenever feeling hungry, without overburdening the digestive system.
- Rest Before Eating: If feeling tired, rest before eating to restore energy.
- Prioritize Nutrient-Dense Foods: Choose nutrient-rich foods or patient favorites, and keep snacks and drinks handy for convenient nutrition replenishment.
- Appetizing Foods: Consume foods or drinks that stimulate appetite, like sour plum soup or juice, and maintain moderate exercise to promote gastrointestinal motility.
- Enhance Cooking Appeal: Improve food appearance, aroma, and taste to boost appetite.
Nutritional Supplement Guidelines
In addition to a balanced diet, cancer patients may need to supplement with nutritional agents due to the disease’s impact or chemotherapy side effects. These are usually taken orally and contain one or more dietary ingredients. Cancer patients might use dietary supplements to alleviate symptoms or aid in cancer treatment.
- Vitamin C: Helps fight infections, aids wound healing, and maintains tissue health. It’s abundant in fruits and vegetables, so moderate intake of these or vitamin C supplements is beneficial.
- Probiotics: Studies show that probiotics help prevent diarrhea caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy and maintain normal digestive function and gastrointestinal health.
- Melatonin: Helps maintain normal sleep cycles. In Taiwan, melatonin supplements should be taken under medical supervision.
- Glutamine: An amino acid that aids in managing chemotherapy or radiotherapy-induced diarrhea and mucositis (oral ulcers), potentially preventing or alleviating mucositis to maintain the quality of life during ongoing drug treatment.
