Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics

Nutrition in Cancer Treatment

People affected with cancer should maintain a healthy body weight with nutritious foods as much as possible. At some cases the side effects of surgery, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy cause a person loss of appetite and lose weight where as some may cause weight gain.

Some general recommendations for people receiving cancer treatment are given below:

• Maintain a right weight. In many cases, this means avoiding weight loss by getting enough calories each day. For people who are more prone to obesity, this may mean losing weight. It might be better to wait until after treatment ends. If it is okay, weight loss should be moderate, meaning only about a pound a week.
• Getting proper nutrients is very essential during treatment. These include protein, carbohydrates, fats, and water in ample amount.
• Being as active as it is possible.

In addition to daily counselling some more precautions can be taken- taking multivitamin, having liquid nutritional supplements.