Food and cancer: the importance of a personalized diet
Written by:Maintain proper nutrition is essential in any situation and age to maintain good health.
In patients with cancer, either by the disease itself or by receiving treatments (surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy), it is sometimes difficult to adequate food
The diet should follow a cancer patient should be individualized for each person and treatments are different and the response to them also. Therefore, they do not serve the advice you can give family and friends.
The diet should be followed, whatever the type of tumor and treatment should consist of a healthy, varied and balanced diet low in fats and soluble sugars. In addition, it should be rich in antioxidants and plant proteins. Mainly, always be a personalized diet.
Tips for eating during cancer
Specialists in Nutrition and Dietetics offer cancer patients a series of tips that are aimed to ensure that:
- make a sufficient diet in terms of calories and proteins
- is adequate hydration
- the appropriate weight is maintained. It is important to prevent weight loss. The loss of more than 5% of normal weight weight, may adversely affect the patient's nutritional status
- treatment and side effects are better tolerated thereof
Side effects of cancer treatment in food
The main problem that a cancer patient faces is the lack of appetite. Fact that occurs even before getting the diagnosis of disease. This lack of appetite is accentuated during treatment with radiotherapy and chemotherapy
The treatments of chemotherapy and radiation can cause alteration in the taste of food and beverages. They can also cause sores (aphthous ulcers and mucositis) in the mouth, producing painful swallowing.
Other side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy are constipation and diarrhea.
Food and cancer: weight loss
Weight loss is one of the first symptoms that occur before the diagnosis of cancer. This weight loss is accentuated during cancer treatment; either surgery, radiotherapy and / or chemotherapy.
At first, before diagnosis the main cause of weight loss is the lack of appetite and subsequently treatment which subjects the patient.
Tumors of the gastrointestinal tract (esophagus, stomach, pancreas, colon and liver) are that often cause a loss of greater weight, both before diagnosis, as a result of surgery or radiotherapy and / or chemotherapy.
Food and cancer: weight gain
In patients with breast cancer is very frequent weight gain once it is completed treatment with chemotherapy. Moreover, this increase is accentuated with subsequent hormonal treatment. Weight gain is not convenient, is, contrary. There is no problem in making a proper low-calorie diet and under medical supervision after having had cancer either breast or any other location. Weight gain may adversely affect the prognosis of the disease.
