Healthy Eating Center

About diet during cancer treatment

Eating healthy is crucial for those who have cancer. You might be able to make some dietary adjustments right now that will benefit you while undergoing therapy. Start following healthy eating principles. It can give you more strength, help you maintain an optimal weight, and help you fight off infections. It may even help you manage or even prevent treatment side effects.

You might find it challenging to maintain your regular diet after your therapy begins. To ensure that you consume enough varied foods and beverages to meet your nutritional needs, you may need to change your diet. There is currently insufficient evidence to support the safety of restrictive diets (diet programs in which specific foods or nutrients are avoided) for cancer patients.

The most important thing is to make sure you are consuming enough protein and calories to keep your body strong while undergoing treatment. Therefore, some of the information in this material may differ from the dietary recommendations you typically follow. Consult a gastroenterologist or nutritionist if you have any questions.

General dietary recommendations

Recipes for People with Cancerarch for recipes according to diet type or symptom.

Nutritional supplements

Dietary supplements are vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements.

You can get all the nutrients you need with a well-balanced diet. However, if you struggle to keep up a balanced diet, taking a low-dose multivitamin and mineral supplement may be of assistance. Low dose here refers to the amount of a vitamin or mineral present in the supplement, which is not more than 100% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA).

There is currently insufficient evidence to prove that consuming large amounts of antioxidants, herbs, or other vitamins and minerals aids in the treatment and curing of cancer. Taking too many supplements may even be harmful to you or affect the progress of your therapy, depending on the specific type of cancer treatment you are receiving.

If you want to take any dietary supplements, consult your doctor first.

Food safety

During cancer treatment, your body works hard to fight the infection. You must now more than ever ensure that the food you eat is safe. This will lower your risk of getting food poisoning and other diseases. For more information, read the resource Eating Safely During Cancer Treatment .