Why is nutrition important during your treatment period?
Nutrition is necessary for our bodies to continuously grow, keep our tissues healthy, and replenish depleted reserves. Eating the right types of food before, during, and after cancer treatment helps patients stay energized, remain strong, and feel in control of their course. A healthy diet begins with eating and drinking enough foods and liquids with vital nutrients (vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fat, and water) the body needs.
How does cancer and cancer treatments affect your nutrition?
Cancer and cancer treatments may change taste, smell, appetite, and the ability to eat enough food or absorb the nutrients from food. This leads to malnutrition, which is defined as a lack of key nutrients. Other risk factors for malnutrition include alcohol abuse and obesity. Malnutrition may further worsen as disease grows or progresses.
Malnutrition can cause the patient to be weak, tired, and unable to fight infection or finish cancer treatment. It is paramount for patients to eat the right amount of protein and calories in order for the body to heal, fight infection, and have enough energy for activities that you enjoy!
How often do patients experience weight loss during treatment period?
Many patients experience unintentional weight loss leading to a diagnosis of cancer, and studies have reported such malnutrition in 30% to 85% of patients with a recent cancer diagnosis. Studies have reported malnutrition in 30% to 85% of patients with cancer.
Emerging evidence supports that loss of lean body mass (sarcopenia) in patients with cancer is an independent risk factor for poorer outcomes; and that in the setting of obesity, unlike in other diseases where weight loss may be welcomed, inappropriate loss of weight may lead to loss of muscle mass and poorer outcomes.
Which types of treatment may affect your nutritional intake?
For many patients, the effects of cancer and cancer treatments make it hard to eat well. Cancer treatments that affect nutrition include:
- Chemotherapy
- Hormone therapy
- Radiation therapy
- Surgery
- Immunotherapy
- Stem cell transplant
More information at cancer.gov.
Sources
- Martin L, Birdsell L, Macdonald N, et al.: Cancer cachexia in the age of obesity: skeletal muscle depletion is a powerful prognostic factor, independent of body mass index. J Clin Oncol 31 (12): 1539-47, 2013.
- Prado CM, Baracos VE, McCargar LJ, et al.: Sarcopenia as a determinant of chemotherapy toxicity and time to tumor progression in metastatic breast cancer patients receiving capecitabine treatment. Clin Cancer Res 15 (8): 2920-6, 2009.
- Bozzetti F, Mariani L, Lo Vullo S, et al.: The nutritional risk in oncology: a study of 1,453 cancer outpatients. Support Care Cancer 20 (8): 1919-28, 2012.
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