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Diet Tips

Eating Healthy: Guidelines for the Cancer Patient

Even after treatment ends, good nutrition and healthy eating habits can help you feel better and increase your strength. So, this is a time to start taking really good care of yourself—eat well!

A good way to start is to be aware of, and follow, the recommendations from nutrition experts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a "Food Guide Pyramid" that proposes 2 to 3 daily servings of meat and eggs and 6 to 11 servings of grains and pasta. The American Cancer Society (ACS), recommends the following dietary guidelines for optimum nutritional health.

American Cancer Society Guidelines on Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer Prevention

  1. Choose most of the foods you eat from plant sources.
    • Eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
    • Eat other foods from plant sources, such as breads, cereals, grain products, rice, pasta, or beans several times each day.
  2. Limit your intake of high-fat foods, particularly from animal sources.
    • Choose foods that are low in fat.
    • Limit consumption of meats, especially high-fat meats.
  3. Be physically active to achieve and maintain a healthy weight (see Activities).
    • Be at least moderately active for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week.
    • Stay within your healthy weight range.
  4. Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages, if you drink at all.

Familial Behavioral Modification May Be Needed

Adopting these dietary recommendations can require quite a bit of change for you and your family. Try to convince family members that these changes in their lifestyle may help protect them from cancer and may keep you healthy as well.

Will Extra Vitamins and Minerals Help?

Some cancer patients think that vitamins, minerals, or other dietary supplements will help "build them up." While eating well during cancer treatment makes it easier to cope with side effects, there is no scientific evidence that dietary supplements or herbal remedies can cure cancer or stop it from coming back.

Supplements are usually not harmful, but ask your oncologist before taking any vitamin or mineral supplement while you are in treatment. Many cancer centers are counseling patients against taking antioxidants during chemotherapy and radiation therapy, since they may reduce the effectiveness of the treatments. A lot of multivitamin products contain antioxidants—vitamins C, E, and A, the mineral selenium, and a group known as the carotenoids. These compounds deactivate certain potentially harmful substances known as free radicals, which are chemicals created by exposure to various environmental factors.

Currently, experts recommend that smokers NOT use a key antioxidant called beta carotene, believing it to be a health risk. At least 2 studies involving smokers have linked beta carotene supplementation with a slightly higher risk of death from lung cancer and a higher risk of developing new cancers. One of those studies also showed that vitamin E supplementation in smokers had no effect on lung cancer.

Remember, before starting any supplementation, especially antioxidants, talk to your doctor.

Preventing Food-Borne Illness

While you are undergoing cancer treatment, your immune system may be weakened from drugs that make it harder for the body to make the white blood cells that fight infection. For this reason, you may need to pay close attention to avoid infections and illnesses caused by improperly stored or prepared foods (food-borne illness).

The following suggestions may help prevent food-borne illness:
  • Wash or scrub all raw fruits and vegetables well, especially melons.
  • Wash your hands and all utensils and surfaces used for preparing food, especially after handling raw meat.
  • Thaw meat in the refrigerator—never on the kitchen counter.
  • Cook meat and eggs thoroughly.
  • Avoid raw shellfish.
  • Use only pasteurized milk, ciders, juices, and cheese.
Visit these sections of our Web site for more information about nutrition:

Diet & Activity Overview
Diet & Chemotherapy

Sources of Information

There are many organizations that provide information about health and nutrition. You may contact them by phone, mail, or on the Internet.
  • American Dietetic Association (ADA)
    1-800-877-1600
    1-800-366-1655 (Consumer Nutrition Hotline)
    http://www.eatright.org
    Provides referrals to registered dietitians and recorded food and nutrition messages.

  • National Cancer Institute
    1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237)
    http://www.cancer.gov
    Call or visit online for free educational materials, including the booklet "Action Guide to Healthy Eating."

  • U.S. Department of Agriculture
    Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
    3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1034
    Alexandria, VA 22302-1594
    1-703-305-7600
    http://www.usda.gov
    Call for a free copy of the booklets "Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans" and "The Food Guide Pyramid."

  • Food and Drug Administration
    Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
    5600 Fishers Lane
    Room 1675, HFE 88
    Rockville, MD 20857
    1-888-INFO-FDA (463-6332)
    http://www.fda.gov
    Call 1-888-SAFEFOOD (723-3366) or write for a free copy of the booklet "The Unwelcome Dinner Guest: Preventing Food-Borne Illness" or visit the FDA Web site for more educational information.

  • http://www.nutrition.gov
    Provides U.S. government-based resources on nutrition.

Additional Resources

Knowing where to find credible and accurate information about nutrition is an important step. The following resources may help:

Eating Well Through Cancer
Holly Clegg and Gerald Miletello, MD
The Wimmer Companies
ISBN: 0961088877, 255 pages
April 2001

The American Cancer Society’s
Healthy Eating Cookbook
American Cancer Society
ISBN: 0-944235-14-X, 201 pages
1999