Diet and nutrition for chemotherapy patients
Health is the most important asset of the body. Health is not everything, but losing it is everything. As the saying goes, “Food is the key to people’s health” and “three parts of treatment and seven parts of nourishment”, which shows how important diet is in people’s life activities, especially for lymphoma patients, diet is an important part of patients’ recovery.
What is nutrition?
Nutrition” is “seeking” and “nourishing” is “nourishing” or “nourishing the body”. “That is to say, to use food or the beneficial ingredients in food to seek to maintain health. Specifically, the body hunts for external food, and through the role of digestion, absorption and metabolism in the body, takes in the food beneficial substances (nutrients) as a process to build the body’s tissues and organs, to meet the needs of physiological functions and physical activities.
Both healthy and sick people need food, balanced nutrition can not only help the body’s growth and development, but also provide calories to support the needs of daily life activities, in fact, for sick people or people recovering from illness, the body often needs more various nutrients to help the body recover, good nutrition can enhance resistance, reduce infection, so that the treatment effect is better.
Second, what are the nutrients required by the human body?
In order to maintain life and health, to ensure growth and development and to engage in labor, human beings must take in a certain amount of various nutrients required by the human body every day.
Nutrients are divided into seven categories.
1, carbohydrates (rice, noodles and other staple foods)
2, protein (poultry, meat, fish, eggs, milk, soybeans, etc.)
3, lipids (cooking oil, fatty meat, cream, etc.)
4, minerals (fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, silver fungus, fungus, peanuts)
5, vitamins (carrots, fruits, vegetables, tomatoes, kiwi, oranges, cod liver oil, etc.)
6, water
7, dietary fiber fruits, vegetables)
The three main functions of nutrients: 1, supply the energy required for life activities
2, to provide the body’s “building materials”, used to constitute and repair body tissues
3.Provide regulatory substances to regulate the physiological functions of the body
Among them: there are 8 essential nutrients (amino acids) that the human body cannot lack, cannot be synthesized in the body, must be obtained from food. Therefore, dietary nutrition is very important.
Third, why should chemotherapy patients pay attention to dietary nutrition?
Nutrition is not only related to the health of normal people, but is especially important for lymphoma patients. Nutrition can influence the regression of disease, improve metabolism, repair tissues, and enable patients to recover as soon as possible. Nutrition is as important as medical treatment and care.
Due to the improvement of standardized chemotherapy level, the efficacy of lymphoma is also improved. However, while chemotherapy kills tumor cells, it also kills normal cells, therefore, a lot of nutrients need to be supplemented after chemotherapy, and with a good body, there can be good treatment effect, where do the nutrients come from? We say that nutrients should be obtained from food, so dietary regimen is crucial for the improvement and prognosis of the disease.
There are four reasons.
1. Tumor is first of all a systemic and consumptive disease, and the disease itself consumes a lot of calories and nutrients.
2. Chemotherapy causes toxic side effects such as nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, etc., which make patients take in less food from outside, reduce nutrient absorption and lack of physical strength.
3, chemotherapy causes bone marrow suppression: leukocyte and platelet reduction, anemia, heart, liver and kidney function damage, etc. The repair of the above cells and organs need the participation of various nutrients, otherwise the white blood cells cannot rise.
4, due to reduced intake, malnutrition, not only affect the repair of tissue function, but also make the humoral immune and cellular immune activity is low, resistance to decline, resulting in a variety of infections and complications.
Fourth, the diet principles should be followed after chemotherapy
1, the most important thing is a balanced diet: food diversity, reasonable mix, meat and vegetables, acid-base balance, color and flavor deployment, not partial food.
2, less food and more meals: the right amount is appropriate, not too full.
3, eat more foods rich in vitamin C and vitamin A: fresh vegetables and fruits, cereals, mixed grains
4, avoid strong stimulating, indigestible food: too acidic, too salty, too spicy, too oily, rough and raw, smoked food.
5.Do not drink alcohol, do not smoke, relaxed and happy.
6.Appropriate supplementation of balanced nutrient formula
V. Should tumor patients avoid eating?
So far, no food has been found to promote the spread of cancer cells and metastasis, therefore, it is generally not necessary to abstain from eating.
Therefore, it is generally not necessary to avoid food. It should be analyzed according to the type of disease, the stage of disease, the presence of complications and the specific situation of the patient. For example, patients with swelling should eat low-salt or salt-free diet; patients with diarrhea can eat crumbless liquid food or easy-to-digest light diet; patients with nausea, vomiting, bloating and other symptoms should eat carbohydrate-based food such as noodles and porridge.
Dietary guidance for various symptoms
Chemotherapy for tumor patients often causes myelosuppression, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and other symptoms. The following are the dietary therapies for different symptoms, for reference only.
(A) chemotherapy patient nausea, vomiting diet
1, chemotherapy patients with nausea, vomiting, choose light, fresh, nutritious, easy to digest food, such as: milk, eggs, broth, fruit, etc.; for vomiting more obvious patients do not have to force patients to eat more, can be given fluid or semi-liquid, such as: thin rice, soup, porridge, etc., a small number of meals, and according to the patient eating and vomiting to give appropriate supplemental water such as: juice, sugar water, salt water, etc. The patient should be hydrated according to the patient’s eating and vomiting condition, such as juice, sugar water, saline, etc. Avoid diet before and after chemotherapy 1 to 2h, can eat as much as possible 3 to 4h before treatment, then eat less and more meals (5 to 6 times a day), eat less food rich in 5 a hydroxytryptamine (bananas, walnuts, persimmons, eggplant), eating such as nausea and vomiting can contain ginger slices or drink a little ginger soup. If the nutrition is seriously imbalanced, and can not eat through the mouth, can be given enteral or parenteral nutrition support treatment as appropriate. Related healthy recipes: fresh rutabaga soup: 120 grams of fresh rutabaga, 30 grams of rock sugar, cooked with soup; carrot porridge: 250 grams of carrot, cut skin and wash, 100 grams of rice, cooked together with porridge, cooked with appropriate amount of ginger powder, hawthorn powder can be; radish sour plum soup: 250 grams of fresh radish, sour plum 2, thinly sliced radish and sour plum cooked soup, dregs and juice, add a little salt seasoning to drink
(B) Diet for diarrhea patients
Patients with diarrhea should eat foods containing little fiber and avoid excessive fats, fried foods or foods that are too sweet. If diarrhea is serious, consider a light diet, such as thin rice soup, clear broth, juice, etc. Also pay attention to replenishing water and electrolytes, and consume more foods with high potassium content (because diarrhea causes a lot of potassium ion loss, and the body cannot produce this substance, so it can only be taken from food). Foods such as bananas, oranges, mangoes, nori, kelp and potatoes are relatively high in potassium. And exclude foods that may cause diarrhea, and avoid milk and dairy products.
(iii) Diet for constipation
Certain chemotherapy drugs such as vincristine can cause intestinal paralysis, so that intestinal peristalsis is inhibited causing constipation, constipation will aggravate nausea, anorexia and other symptoms, patients should be encouraged to eat vegetables containing more fiber, such as: rape, spinach, leek, celery, etc., to promote intestinal
Peristalsis, reduce the occurrence of constipation. Fruits such as bananas, strawberries and groundnuts are good for laxatives. The fiber content of oatmeal is also very high, and some gas-producing foods such as beans, radish, pumpkin and so on can also increase intestinal peristalsis. Avoid eating too fine food and drink more water. In addition, take honey every morning and evening on an empty stomach to further achieve the effect of laxative.
(D) platelet thrombocytopenia food therapy prescription
The main symptoms of thrombocytopenia are subcutaneous spots and petechiae, with varying distribution, more on the extremities than on the trunk, and in severe cases, nosebleeds, gum bleeds and bleeding from internal organs such as the stomach and intestines. Diet therapy plays an important role in the adjunctive treatment of this disease. There are the following dietary therapy recipes.
Steamed lotus root: freshly washed lotus root, mash the clothed peanuts, and sesame seeds, icing sugar combined into the lotus root hole, steamed with a gentle fire, eat at will often. The root is cold and can stop bleeding; peanuts and sesame nourish the blood and accelerate platelet regeneration.
Stir-fried pig’s blood with leek: 80g of leek, washed and stir-fried with 50g of pig’s blood, add salt to taste, eat as a dish. The leek invigorates the blood, and the pig’s blood nourishes the blood, so it has a good effect of nourishing the blood and resolving blood stasis.
Black fungus and persimmon soup: 12g of black fungus, 4 persimmon cakes, decocted with soup, drink as tea every night. Wood fungus and persimmon cake are both cool in nature and can nourish Yin. They are useful in eliminating blemishes and stopping bleeding in patients with thrombocytopenia who have bright red petechiae.
Chinese wolfberry and jujube soup: 10g of Chinese wolfberry, 10 jujubes, 10g of Radix et Rhizoma Ginseng, 2 eggs.
Peanut and Ginseng Soup: 6g of peanut red coat, 10 red dates, 10g of ginseng.
Round meat and peanut soup: 12g longan meat, 25g clothed peanuts, 15g jujube.
Brown sugar boiled with safflower seeds (must be with skin) and brown sugar eggs boiled with Agaricus blazei both have certain platelet-raising effects
(E) Anemia diet
Clinically, anemia is manifested by pale skin, pale complexion, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, tinnitus, memory loss and lack of concentration. In Chinese medicine, anemia is mostly classified as a “deficiency disease”, and its food therapy is mainly based on the principles of nourishing the heart, strengthening the spleen and replenishing blood.
Stir-fried pork liver with leek: Ingredients: 100g pork liver, 50g leek, 80g onion, 1 tbsp salad oil.
Longan wolfberry porridge: Ingredients: 15g each of red dates, longan meat and wolfberry, 50g each of black rice and japonica rice.
Angelica sinensis and mutton soup: Ingredients: 30g of red dates and angelica, 50g of ginger, 150g of mutton.
(F) Leukocyte-raising diet
Patients with declining white blood cells after chemotherapy can supplement with lean meat, fish, jujube, cinnamon, quail, mushrooms, snapper, walnuts, cordyceps and other foods that can fight cancer and raise white blood cells.
1.Mushroom and fungus soup Recipe: 6~8 mushrooms, 10g black fungus.
2.Mulberry and red date egg soup Recipe: 20 grams of mulberry, 10 red dates, 2 eggs.
3, fungus jujube porridge Recipe: 30 grams of black fungus, 8 jujube, 100 grams of round-grained rice.
4, fresh milk with chicken Recipe: 300 ml of fresh milk, 100 grams of fresh female chicken, 2 slices of ginger.
5, carrot and lamb liver soup Recipe: 200 grams of carrot, 10 grams of umeboshi, 20 grams of lamb liver.
6, red dates and peanuts soup Recipe: 10 red dates, peanut coats 10 grams.