5 Foods You Should Eat During Cancer Treatment

Cancer treatments can take a harsh toll on your body, and keeping your strength up isn’t easy. Getting plenty of sleep, exercising regularly, and eating well are all important parts of taking care of yourself during cancer treatment.

But those things are easier said than done. Eating can be especially difficult, as cancer treatment side effects can make it hard to chew, swallow, and keep down food. When you’re going through cancer treatment, focus on eating nutritious, calorie-dense foods like some of these.

Eggs

Eggs are packed with protein, making them an excellent choice for people going through cancer treatment. One egg contains seven grams of protein, about as much as an ounce of cheese, fish, poultry, or beef. Eggs also contain selenium, a mineral that could ease the side effects of chemotherapy and boost your immune system during cancer treatment. The vitamins D and E in eggs may protect your body from some of the toxic effects of chemotherapy, and may combat feelings of numbness in the hands and feet that occur due to chemotherapy.

Plus, eggs are soft and easy to chew and swallow. That’s a bonus if you’re struggling with a sore mouth and throat due to cancer treatment.

Yogurt

Another easy-to-swallow food, yogurt, contains plenty of protein and calcium for strong bones, which is especially important for women going through treatment for reproductive cancers. Just make sure you choose live-culture yogurt, since it’s these probiotics that are largely responsible for helping you stay healthy during cancer treatment. Probiotics help prevent constipation and diarrhea by supporting an appropriate balance of intestinal flora.

Broth

It’s always important to stay hydrated, but it’s even more important to do so when you’re going through cancer treatment and experiencing side effects like vomiting and diarrhea. Whether it’s beef, chicken, or vegetable broth, the salty liquid will help keep your body’s electrolytes in balance. Even a clear miso soup will do. These foods may also contain other vitamins and minerals that can help you stay healthy.

Of course, doctors recommend consuming eight to 12 cups of liquid a day to prevent dehydration during cancer treatment, and that’s a lot of broth. Popsicles, water, pasteurized juice, and sports drinks are also good ways to say hydrated during cancer treatment.

Legumes and Beans

Legumes and beans are among the most nutritious foods you can eat during cancer treatment. They’re rich in B vitamins and protein, which your body needs for everything from cell repair to immunity and healing. Beans and legumes are also high in fiber, which can help protect you from diarrhea or constipation. Peas and lentils are two of the best choices.

Vegetables and Fruits

When you’re going through cancer treatment, doctors advise filling up at least half of your plate with vegetables and fruits. Leafy green vegetables are a particularly good choice, since they’re rich in vitamins A, E, and K. They also contain a lot of iron, to keep your blood healthy. Cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower, contain antioxidant compounds that may stop cancer cells from growing. In one study by the National Cancer Institute, eating one to two cups of cruciferous vegetables a day caused participants to experience a 22 percent decrease in oxidative cellular damage caused by free radicals. Get more vegetables and fruits in your diet by snacking on them during the day.

Good nutrition is a vital part of cancer treatment, since it can help your body stay strong. The right foods may even fight the cancer itself. The better you’re able to eat, the more strength and energy you’ll have to draw from throughout the course of your treatment.

A New Study Says U.S. Lung Cancer Rates Are Falling

Lung cancers are the most dangerous cancers in the United States, but according to recent data from the National Cancer Institute, there’s good news — rates of lung cancer in America are falling. That may be because of increased awareness of the dangers of smoking, and increase prevalence of smoke-free public spaces. While experts have already known that lung cancer rates in America have been dropping off, this latest study gives exact figures, and information about trends in the rates of various subtypes of lung cancer. The overall number of lung cancer cases declined by 12 percent between 1977 and 2010, researchers report.

Some Subtypes of Lung Cancer on the Decline

In this latest study, National Cancer Institute researcher Dr. Denise Lewis and her team analyzed data collected from over 450,000 people diagnosed with some type of lung cancer between 1977 and 2010. The data were collected as part of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.

The researchers wanted to learn more about the rates of specific lung cancer subtypes among various ethnicities and among men as compared to women. They looked at lung cancer rates among whites, blacks, non-white Hispanics, Asians and Pacific Islanders, and white Hispanics diagnosed between 1992 and 2010. Dr. Lewis and colleagues discovered that rates of small cell and squamous cell carcinomas have dropped off significantly since the 1990s. The researchers also discovered a decline in the overall number of non-specified lung-cancer cases.

Rates of these cancers among men have dropped off much more than they have among women. It’s believed that’s because men start smoking at a younger age than women, and so begin to develop lung cancer much sooner. With time, the researchers expect male and female lung cancer rates to approach one another.

While the rates of certain lung cancers are on the decline, there’s bad news, too. Rates of at least one lung cancer subtype are increasing.

Adenocarcinomas on the Rise

Rates of adenocarcinoma, a slow-growing subtype of lung cancer that appears in the outer layers of the lung tissue, are increasing. Dr. Normal Edelman of the American Lung Association believes that recent changes in the way people use cigarettes are to blame for increasing adenocarcinoma rates. In recent decades, low-nicotine, low-tar cigarettes have become more popular. People who smoke these cigarettes are more likely to smoke more and inhale the smoke more deeply, in an effort to get more nicotine out of them.

“The deeper you breathe in smoke, the more likely the cancer-causing tars are going to get into the outer area of the lungs, and that’s where adenocarcinoma starts,” Dr. Edelman told WebMD.

But since adenocarcinoma is a slower-growing form of lung cancer, it’s more likely than some subtypes to be diagnosed before it spreads outside the lungs. This means that lung cancer treatments for adenocarcinoma are more likely to be effective.

Cigarette smoking is still directly responsible for 90 to 95 percent of lung cancer cases diagnosed in the United States. It has even been called a contributing factor in cases where other carcinogens, like radon, were involved. As smoking becomes less and less common, researchers believe that lung cancer, too, will become rare.

5 Pancreatic Cancer Myths, Busted

Pancreatic cancer has a bad reputation. It’s known for being one of the most difficult cancers to treat, in part because its early symptoms can be so difficult to pinpoint. Symptoms like jaundice, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, weight loss and general weakness can be indicative of a range of health problems — they aren’t necessarily pancreatic cancer. Plus, there’s no basic diagnostic test that can help physicians screen for pancreatic cancer. Myths about this scary form of cancer abound, but it’s important that you have the facts about pancreatic cancer if you want to defeat it.

Myth 1: Pancreatic Cancer Is Always Deadly

Let’s get this damaging myth out of the way first. Pancreatic cancer is not always deadly — far from it. Like other forms of cancer, early detection is the key to successful treatment. Five-year survival rates are highest among those who are diagnosed early, and advances in pancreatic cancer treatment have made the disease much more survivable than it has been in the past. If you’re worried about developing pancreatic cancer, don’t be — it’s a relatively rare form of cancer, occurring in about 30,000 people a year. Just five to ten percent of cases are hereditary.

Myth 2: Pancreatic Cancer Screening Tests Are Available and Common

Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer screening tests are not commonly done. In fact, researchers have not yet developed an easy and accurate way to screen for pancreatic cancer. Unlike prostate or breast cancers, for example, there’s no blood test or specific imaging procedure that can reliably detect this cancer. CT scans can detect prostate tumors, but only a biopsy can determine if those tumors are cancerous.

Myth 3: There Is Only One Kind of Prostate Cancer

There are actually two kinds of pancreatic cancer. The vast majority — 95 percent — of pancreatic cancers are of a type known as adenocarcinoma. These tumors arise in the ductal cells that line the pancreatic ducts. The other, rarer form of pancreatic cancer occurs in the islets of Langerhans, the cells of the pancreas itself, where insulin is made. Cancer in these cells is known as islet-cell pancreatic cancer.

Myth 4: You Should Avoid Physical Contact with Others During Radiation Therapy

This myth arose out of an understandable concern that radiation treatment could actually make a patient radioactive, placing his or her friends and loved ones at risk. However, the radiation used to treat pancreatic cancer doesn’t hang around in the body.

Once you have finished a treatment session, you can feel free to go home and hug your loved ones at will. They are not at risk of being exposed to radiation because you are going through treatment. Physical contact with loved ones can be beneficial for all of you.

Myth 5: Surgery Makes Pancreatic Cancer More Likely to Spread

Lots of people know somebody who received surgery for pancreatic cancer, or another type of cancer, only to find that their cancer metastasized after surgery. However, it’s a myth that surgery for pancreatic cancer can cause it to spread by exposing the cancer to the air or lowering immunity. Surgery can’t cause cancer to spread, but it can prevent it from spreading.

The more you know about pancreatic cancer, the better your chances of recovering from it. With early detection and the right treatment plan, you can put pancreatic cancer behind you — where it belongs.