What should I eat if I have severe malnutrition in the advanced stage of esophageal cancer?

Patients with advanced esophageal cancer will develop a state of what is medically known as “cachexia” (or cachexia), which is characterized by extreme lethargy, anemia, weakness, complete bed rest, and generalized failure. At this time, the main purpose of nutritional support is to relieve hunger and thirst. A very small amount of diet is sufficient to meet the patient’s needs, and too much rehydration can instead lead to edema and increase unnecessary pain. Therefore, invasive intravenous nutritional support and massive rehydration are not recommended.

At this point, the patient is usually limited to a semi-liquid or liquid diet. As a family member, you can choose some of the following foods and make them easy to swallow and give them to him or her.

For staple foods, choose rotten noodles, pasta, soft bread, ravioli, fish fillet congee, pumpkin congee, vegetable rice paste, etc.

For the protein category, you can choose egg custard, tofu brain, mashed meatballs, fish balls, etc.

For fruits and vegetables, you can choose young leafy vegetables (bean seedlings, spinach, baby vegetables, etc.), squash and fruit vegetables (zucchini, pumpkin, winter squash, tomatoes, etc.), freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices, etc. Among them, both leafy vegetables and squash vegetables should be cooked very softly or added to rice porridge to make it easier for patients to swallow.