Young, blonde, laughing woman with a pink T-shirt and a cancer ribbon of the same color in the foreground. In the background, out of focus, two women and a man, laughing, in nature. Lettering: "nutrition and cancer", "medimentum".
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I have can­cer — what should I eat?

Posted by in Therapy

The diet that affect­ed women eat before, dur­ing, and after can­cer treat­ment can play an impor­tant role in recov­ery. Diet is con­sid­ered a sup­port­ive treat­ment option. But can­cer and its asso­ci­at­ed treat­ment can some­times change how and what patients eat. A diet that is healthy for some may not work for others.

The World Can­cer Research Fund esti­mates that about 20 per­cent of all can­cers diag­nosed in devel­oped coun­tries are relat­ed to obe­si­ty, phys­i­cal inac­tiv­i­ty, exces­sive alco­hol con­sump­tion and/or poor diet. While there is still much ambi­gu­i­ty about can­cer and its con­nec­tion to diet, par­tic­u­lar­ly in rela­tion to pre­ven­ta­tive nutri­tion and the heal­ing pow­ers of food. Nev­er­the­less, it is impor­tant to deal with the top­ic, since diet has an impor­tant influ­ence on promi­nent risk fac­tors such as obe­si­ty and dia­betes. This works best with myths and facts about the role of nutri­tion in can­cer pre­ven­tion and dur­ing can­cer treatment.

Here are some of the most com­mon claims about diet in cancer: 

There is a link between can­cer and being over­weight or obese.

Yes, excess body fat can increase can­cer risk by caus­ing the body to pro­duce more estro­gen and insulin, and release hor­mones that can stim­u­late can­cer growth. A new report from the World Can­cer Research Fund sug­gests obe­si­ty increas­es the risk of at least 12 dif­fer­ent types of cancer.

There are cer­tain foods that have been linked to can­cer risk.

Yes, high con­sump­tion of red or processed meat increas­es the risk of can­cer in humans. Alter­na­tive­ly, eat­ing fruit, veg­eta­bles, and whole grains helps reduce can­cer risk. Processed and nutri­ent-poor foods (e.g. chips) should be con­sumed to a lim­it­ed extent.

A list of oth­er healthy habits to reduce the risk of cancer:

  • Reduced con­sump­tion of sug­ary drinks
  • Lim­it­ed con­sump­tion of red meat
  • Increase in plant pro­teins such as beans, lentils, tofu instead of meat
  • Main­tain a healthy weight
  • Main­tain­ing a Healthy Weight At least 150 min­utes of exer­cise per week
  • No use of tobac­co in any form
  • Lim­it alco­hol con­sump­tion to 1 drink per day
  • Avoid­ing exces­sive sun exposure

There are cer­tain foods that “fight” can­cer naturally

Agree to a cer­tain extent. Eat­ing an over­all bal­anced diet can help reduce can­cer risk or keep the body healthy dur­ing can­cer treat­ment. In addi­tion, antiox­i­dants and phy­to­chem­i­cals found in fruit, veg­eta­bles and whole grains have anti-can­cer effects in the body.

There are cer­tain diets that cure cancer.

That is not right. There isn’t enough research to show that a spe­cif­ic diet can cure can­cer. How­ev­er, nutri­tion plays a sup­port­ive role and can help patients to bet­ter cope with indi­vid­ual com­po­nents of the ther­a­py (surgery, chemother­a­py, radi­a­tion). Patients under­go­ing can­cer treat­ment, espe­cial­ly chemother­a­py, may expe­ri­ence nau­sea, vom­it­ing, diar­rhea, con­sti­pa­tion, flat­u­lence, dys­pha­gia (dif­fi­cul­ty swal­low­ing), stom­ati­tis (mouth infec­tion), xeros­to­mia (dry mouth), mucosi­tis (pain and inflam­ma­tion of the mucous mem­branes). In addi­tion, there is fatigue (tired­ness), loss of appetite and changes in taste.

Due to these side effects, there is an increased inci­dence of mal­nu­tri­tion. Dieti­tians there­fore play an impor­tant role in can­cer treat­ment in and around clin­ics by offer­ing indi­vid­u­al­ized strate­gies and nutri­tion plans. Patients are helped to achieve or main­tain a healthy weight and diet based on their symptoms.

We have there­fore sum­ma­rized the most impor­tant nutri­tion­al tips for cancer:

Tips for bet­ter nutri­tion dur­ing can­cer treatment

Tips for bet­ter nutri­tion dur­ing can­cer treat­ment You should eat what you want and fol­low few guide­lines. Nutri­tion­ists are tasked with pro­vid­ing a basis for patients to feel as strong and healthy as pos­si­ble dur­ing treatment.

The basis of eat­ing with can­cer treatment

One of the most impor­tant goals of can­cer nutri­tion is to get enough of the fol­low­ing elements:

  • Flu­ids to stay hydrat­ed (most­ly decaf­feinat­ed fluids)
  • Ener­gy (calo­ries) and nutri­ents from healthy foods
  • Pro­teins to help main­tain body mass/muscles

Over­all, the main goal is to pro­vide calo­ries through nutri­ent-dense foods. Most patients can eat nor­mal­ly and health­ily. If you are not expe­ri­enc­ing any diet-relat­ed side effects from your can­cer treat­ment that lim­it your abil­i­ty to eat and/or digest food, you can stick to a gen­er­al­ly healthy diet that includes the fol­low­ing foods as core elements:

  • fruits and vegetables
  • Full grain
  • Beans and lentils
  • Nutri­tious Fats
  • Lean pro­tein

If you suf­fer from treat­ment side effects, such as fatigue and diges­tive prob­lems, it’s help­ful to include foods that require lit­tle or no prepa­ra­tion and are easy to eat — and easy on your stom­ach. This does­n’t mean “junk food” full of emp­ty calo­ries, but more con­ve­nient alter­na­tives that still pro­vide the nutri­ents you need. 

The fol­low­ing are promi­nent sug­ges­tions that help most patients with diet planning:

Fresh fruit. The best choic­es are fruits that are refresh­ing, easy to eat, and high in water. Mel­ons, berries, pineap­ples, bananas, pears and canned or jarred fruit in their own juices are popular.

Yogurt. It’s easy to eat and pro­motes healthy diges­tion. Choose unsweet­ened vari­eties. You can add berries, cin­na­mon, or sliv­ers of almonds for flavor. 

Mues­li. Every­thing from oat­meal to oat bran, oats are a great hot choice. Rice-based cere­als are espe­cial­ly good if you have diges­tive issues. 

Peanut but­ter. Choose whole grain crack­ers for fiber (if applic­a­ble) and pro­tein. Look for 100 per­cent peanut but­ter that’s made with no added oils. 

Full grain. Eat whole-grain bread and crackers—make sure the pack­ag­ing says 100 per­cent whole grain. Whole grain pro­motes reg­u­lar­i­ty and diges­tive health; Too high a grind can remove fiber, pro­tein, and oth­er nutrients. 

Meat and poul­try. Look for whole, unprocessed meats with­out nitrates. Chick­en breast is a con­ve­nient choice, as is chick­en or tuna sal­ad and meat/poultry that is ten­der­ized in soups and stews. The slow cook­er is a great way to con­ve­nient­ly cook meat or poultry.

Eggs (boiled). Eat only boiled eggs (scram­bled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, omelettes). Raw eggs are unsafe, even if they fall into a smoothie.

Food safe­ty tips

Be sure to select and process foods with­in the bounds of your cook­ing skills. After all, safe food prepa­ra­tion and prepa­ra­tion is an extreme­ly impor­tant piece of the puz­zle. It should also be not­ed that no indi­vid­ual aller­gies and intol­er­ances could be tak­en into account in the sug­ges­tions. These are gen­er­al diet tips.

Sources

krebsgesellschaft.de
https://www.krebsgesellschaft.de/

Health City Berlin
https://www.gesundheitsstadt-berlin.de/

Memo­ri­al­care Orga­ni­za­tion
https://www.memorialcare.org

Memo­r­i­al Sloan Ket­ter­ing Can­cer Cen­ter
https://www.mskcc.org/

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