Lung Cancer & Nutrition

Millions of dollars go into cancer research every year, and the link between nutrition and lung cancer has been the subject of many studies. What you eat can have a direct effect on your risk of getting cancer, your ability to fight it, and your chance of recovery.

• Fresh vegetables are keys to a cancer prevention diet.

Prevention

• Eating many vegetables and fruit to help prevent lung cancer.

  The National Cancer Institute and the American Society for Cancer both have guidelines for nutrition that may help reduce the risk of lung cancer. Some suggestions are obvious: do not smoke or use tobacco products and maintain a healthy weight. Other recommendations are more pointed: eat a plant-based diet that includes beans and whole grains, and having more that the normal five servings a day of fruits and vegetables has been shown to reduce the risk of lung cancer. Also, male smokers who took beta-carotene supplements were more likely to develop the disease, so avoid those vitamins if you smoke.

Function

• Various elements of the body's fight against cancer reduce the patient's appetite. Often one's taste can change, and the Lung Cancer Guidebook recommends avoiding foods with strong flavors, and sticking to basic staples like chicken broth, mild cheese, peanut butter, and eggs. If odors get to you, eating food cold can help, because it emits less fragrance than when warm. Also, sucking on hard candy during treatment can help get rid of a bad taste in the mouth that can develop and cause a lack of appetite.

Effects

• One of the most commonly reported side effects of chemotherapy and radiation is nausea, and less frequently, vomiting, which can interfere with a patient getting proper nutrition. Dr. Tina St. John, in her Lung Cancer Guidebook, recommends not eating two hours before or after a treatment session. The book also says that ginger may help prevent nausea, carbonated drinks should be avoided during treatment, and ingesting small amounts of cold or frozen things, like ice chips or sorbets, can help calm the feeling of nausea.

Considerations

• Patients suffering from advanced lung cancer may have any number of nutrition-related side effects from the disease or the treatment, including weight loss. Constipation, bloating, nausea, vomiting, the inability to swallow, and the feeling that one is too full to eat can all occur when fighting the advanced disease. The Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York recommends that advanced cancer patients eat anything they are in the mood for, recognizing that greasy foods may further upset the stomach. It suggests eating small, frequent meals with lots of protein, and make sure to be ingesting enough fluids.

Recovery

• If you have finished chemotherapy or radiation and your doctor gives you an optimistic prognosis, your biggest responsibility now is to heal. Weight loss or gain, sometimes extreme, is a common side effect of cancer treatment, so often a patient needs to try and get back to a healthy weight. Talk to your doctor or nurse about specific diet recommendations, and ask whether dietary supplements may be a good idea for you. The National Cancer Institute maintains an extensive website on specific guidelines for lung cancer survivors. See References for a link.