The occurrence of tumor is closely related to environmental factors. Among the environmental factors, food is the most direct, frequent and abundant material factor that the human body is exposed to, and is the material basis of the environment and metabolism in the human body. There are many nutrients and anti-cancer components needed by human body in food, and there are also carcinogens or their precursors. Therefore, in the process of tumor occurrence and development, dietary factors play an important role in protecting the body as well as having an important etiological effect. Chinese medicine believes that diet is closely related to human health since ancient times. In the book of “Nei Jing”, it is said that “five grains are nourishing, five fruits are helpful, five animals are beneficial, five dishes are filling, and the smell is harmonious and served to nourish the essence and benefit the qi”. Nutritional intervention is an important part of tumor rehabilitation. Through the regulation of diet, it can play a preventive or auxiliary therapeutic role for tumor and effectively promote the body’s recovery.
First, nutritional assessment
We suggest that in the aspect of nutritional rehabilitation, first of all, nutritional assessment should be conducted for cancer patients to evaluate whether they have malnutrition or risk of malnutrition, and then according to the condition of each patient’s organism, professional doctors should tailor individual reasonable nutrient supplementation or adjust the diet structure and choose appropriate food. Only with proper nutrition supply can we achieve the nutritional treatment purpose of improving tumor patients’ tolerance to surgical treatment, reducing or avoiding post-surgical infection, promoting wound healing after surgery, improving tumor patients’ tolerance to radiotherapy or chemotherapy, reducing their toxic side effects, and at the same time improving the body’s immunity and anti-cancer ability and improving the quality of life.
Nutritional assessment of cancer patients is carried out to achieve early detection and early intervention. The contents include; dietary survey, body composition analysis, anthropometric measurements (weight and body mass index, sebum thickness, upper arm, waist and abdominal circumference, etc.), biochemical examination, comprehensive evaluation, etc.
Patients who need nutritional guidance can be recommended to go to the nutrition department of the hospital for nutritional assessment, and then according to the different stages of the disease, the different treatments and the differences in the patients’ physical conditions, the clinical dietitian will formulate a nutritional intervention plan. Guidance of patients’ diet is mainly through the following aspects.
1. finding possible causes by means of evaluation.
2. dietary recommendations to meet the patient’s needs.
3. evaluating the effect of the dietary modifications.
4.Develop a suitable dietary preparation recipe for the patient, which may include the required daily caloric intake, composition ratio, dietary contraindications, therapeutic recipes, etc.
Second, to identify the cold and heat deficiency, in stages, with focus
First of all, we should identify the body’s yin and yang strength and weakness, deficiency and heat, and understand the taste and function of food and medicine. For example, those who are hot should be cautious of hot foods such as cinnamon, venison and mutton; those who are cold should be cautious of cold foods such as watermelon, pear and acacia; those who are yin deficient should eat less spicy and warm foods such as chili, onion and ginger.
Secondly, it is important to understand the damage of various treatments to the human body. For example, in radiotherapy, heat toxicity injures yin, so it is appropriate to eat asparagus, duck, radish and other foods to clear heat and produce fluid; in chemotherapy, it is often shown that the spleen and stomach are damaged and deficient in qi and blood, so it is appropriate to eat red dates, yams, pig liver, tomatoes and other foods to promote digestion and nourish blood.
Thirdly, we should choose the food therapy formula according to Chinese medicine identification.
Mastering the characteristics of Chinese medicine and food, adopting TCM theory as the guide, and administering food according to the differences in patients’ physical characteristics, spleen and stomach function, clinical symptoms and treatment means, can better alleviate treatment-related side effects, improve patients’ appetite, adjust gastrointestinal function, relieve constipation and abdominal distension, and promote qi and blood biochemistry, which is very beneficial to recovery.
When guiding cancer patients to carry out dietary modification, patients should be reminded of the following matters.
1. There is no strict “taboo” for cancer patients, many of them need about 20% more calories than healthy people because of the high consumption of the body, so malnutrition should not be caused by taboo.
2. Cancer patients should not blindly “take tonic” and should not be superstitious about the effect of tonic products, but should selectively consume suitable tonic products under the guidance of doctors.
3.On the basis of the principles of cancer diet confirmed by modern research, combined with the principles of TCM diet, the effect will be better.
Fourthly, balanced nutrition and reasonable matching
We usually suggest that patients should pay attention to the following points in terms of diet.
1. Don’t blindly take supplements; balanced diet is most important. Cancer patients need various nutrients as normal people do, and failure to take balanced supplements will lead to malnutrition instead.
2. Don’t generalize, although some studies believe that excessive intake of red meat (pork, beef, lamb, etc.) is related to the occurrence of digestive tract tumors, but during radiotherapy, appropriate intake of red meat can supplement iron (myoglobin is rich in iron), and it is more scientific and reasonable to eat red meat than white meat (poultry, fish, etc.) at this time.
3, meat and vegetarian mix, can follow the vegetarian food (refers to fresh vegetables and fruits, etc.) accounted for 2/3, meat (meat, eggs, milk, etc.) accounted for 1/3 of the dietary ratio principle.