Oncology Nutrition; an Essential Resource for Dietitians on the Nutritional Management of Cancer

Oncology nutrition is an integral part of the entire process of recovering from cancer. A well-balanced oncology nutrition helps improve strength, maintain body weight, and aids the body’s recovery from cancer. An oncology dietitian help cancer patients and their caregivers develop a plan for good nutrition. By achieving good overall health, a well-balanced nutrition can help reduce cancer risk, keep patients healthy, and combat disease, as well as side effects. It helps cancer patients choose the right foods to support them through cancer treatment.

Healthy eating habits are important during and after cancer treatment. Thus, nutrition therapy is widely used to help people with cancer to maintain strength, keep healthy body weight, keep body tissue healthy, and combat side effects during and after treatment. The most common nutritional problems in cancer patients are difficulty in swallowing, nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, difficulty in eating hospital food, inadequate food consumption (diet-related), such as inadequate liquid intake and neutropenic diet.

Thus, with the increasing prevalence of cancer around the world, the demand for oncology nutrition is also increasing with a rapid pace. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2021, there will be an estimated 1.9 million new cancer cases diagnosed and 608,570 cancer deaths in the United States. Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among US women and is the second leading cause of death among women after lung cancer. Adequate nutritional provision can benefit cancer patients to control weight and slim body composition, providing better health benefits and a better quality of life.

Oncology nutrition plays an important role in several aspects of cancer development and is an important helpful therapy during cancer treatment. The correct nutritional provision helps the cancer patient endure the distressing effects of the disease and its treatment. Moreover, it also helps in healing wounds after surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or other treatment.