Doctor, is there anything I should avoid eating in general? Doctor, is there anything I can’t eat when I am undergoing radiotherapy? Doctor, is it true that the better a tumor patient eats, the faster the tumor grows? Doctor, what are “hairy food”? Can “hairy food” be eaten? In daily life, the taboo of “hairy food” for tumor patients is very popular in folklore, except for eggs, shrimps and crabs, beef and mutton, ducks and geese and other common hairy food. “If we strictly follow the custom of hairy food around the world, tumor patients will face a long list of forbidden dishes. Is there any scientific basis for the saying of “hairy food”? Should tumor patients have so many worries about their diet? What are the common dietary misunderstandings at present? Today, we are going to talk about the most concerned dietary problems of tumor patients. 1. Should tumor patients be “taboo” and can they eat “hairy food”? The so-called “taboo” and “hairy food” is a concept unique to Chinese medicine, which means that after eating certain foods, the disease will recur, so it is necessary to avoid eating certain foods. In Chinese medicine, avoidance of food is mainly for bacterial and viral infectious diseases, allergic diseases or allergies, such as asthma, urticaria and other skin diseases. From the perspective of modern pathology, tumor is not an infectious disease or allergic disease, and the recurrence of tumor is not the same concept as “hair” caused by “hair products”, so “hair products” may not cause the recurrence of tumor. Therefore, “hair products” may not cause the recurrence of tumor. Tumor patients, especially the advanced ones, are prone to malnutrition. Many of the “hairy products” rejected by patients are rich in protein and vitamins, which are precisely what they need, and “hairy products” can not only ensure the nutrients needed by the body, but also improve their immunity and disease resistance. Therefore, tumor patients do not need to avoid the “hairy food” in our traditional concept. 2.The more nutritious you eat, the faster the tumor grows? Some people think that tumor patients should not eat too nutritious food, otherwise the tumor will become bigger. Therefore, patients only eat vegetarian food, green vegetables and fruits, and also control the amount of diet. However, in fact, the growth of tumor cells has nothing to do with how much nutrition a patient eats. The guidelines for nutritional support treatment for oncology patients published by the American Society for Parenteral Nutrition (ASPEN) state that there is no evidence that nutritional support promotes tumor growth. Even if the patient is malnourished, cancer cells will still grow, and malnutrition will only make the patient’s body consume more quickly and accelerate the deterioration of the disease. However, nutritional support for malnourished tumor patients will not only not promote the growth of tumor, but also improve the physical condition of patients and enhance the immune function of the body, which is beneficial to tumor treatment. Therefore, it depends on the nutritional status of the patients if they want to “avoid” or “supplement”, and there is no need to have too many other concerns. 3.How to eat during radiotherapy? During radiotherapy, due to radiation exposure, dry mouth, loss of taste and smell, erythema, itching, mucosal ulcers or radioactive inflammation, etc. Therefore, foods that clear heat and nourish yin should be supplemented, such as lotus root juice, water chestnuts, pear juice, green bean soup, watermelon, asparagus, figs, almonds, umeboshi, bananas, loquat, carrots, etc., while spicy, barbecue, tobacco and alcohol and other stimulants should be avoided. Patients during chemotherapy often cause discomfort in the digestive tract, and show loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, bone marrow suppression, etc. What should be done? Patients with loss of appetite should be instructed to change their cooking methods frequently and pay attention to the color and aroma to increase their appetite, with stewing and steaming as the main food and less sweet, greasy, spicy and fried food. Patients with diarrhea should be instructed to eat less and more meals, avoid high-fiber foods, and in severe cases need to eat a light diet, drink more water, and take appropriate supplements of foods high in potassium such as oranges and potatoes, and avoid milk and dairy products to avoid aggravating diarrhea; those with constipation can eat more fresh vegetables and fruits rich in vitamins, as well as brown rice and beans containing coarse fiber, drink more honey water and Those with bone marrow suppression should consume more pork, duck, fish and red dates, peanuts and other foods. Chemotherapy patients should not eat spicy and stimulating food, and should not drink alcohol (these diets are easy to lead to gastrointestinal discomfort, especially not suitable for digestive tumor patients), in addition, do not eat raw, cold and hard food during chemotherapy, and pay attention to clean, light and nutritionally comprehensive diet. 4. Can tumor patients use albumin? This question is essentially a question of whether tumor patients can “supplement”. For patients with normal nutritional status, there is no need to use albumin. For patients with advanced tumors who have a short survival period and severe albumin deficiency, it is not very meaningful to supplement albumin. Albumin should be more suitable for patients who are deficient in albumin and have a longer expected survival period. 5.Does it matter if you can’t eat as long as you take nutrition injections? Many patients will ask the doctor to infuse nutrition solution after hospitalization, thinking that the body will be better with intravenous nutrition for a few days, and it does not matter if they do not eat, but in fact, the body’s source of nutrition is mainly absorbed by food into the intestine, if you do not eat for a long time, the intestinal mucosa will atrophy, causing dysbiosis of the intestinal flora, which is also prone to infection, so as long as you can eat, you must try to intake nutrients in the normal way, supplementation The way of nutrition can be carried out with enteral nutrition preparations. Intravenous nutrition can be maintained to improve the nutritional metabolism of patients who are unable to eat, but it should not be used for a long time. In general, in terms of diet, it is more of an inappropriate than a contraindication. Alcohol is not suitable (alcoholism is definitely a contraindication), spicy and stimulating food is not suitable, overeating is not suitable, and a balanced diet is noted. As for those foods that have been classified as carcinogens (smoked and grilled foods, processed red meat, pickles, etc.), it is even more important to eat less or not.