pleuralcancer.org is about nutrition for people with mesothelioma. Mesothelioma patients have special dietary needs.

Mesothelioma Nutrition

A healthy diet is vital for a person's body to function at its best. Diet is even more important for people with cancer like mesothelioma.

Your diet is an important consideration during your treatment for cancer. Eating the right kinds of foods before, during, and after your treatment can help you feel better and stay stronger.

Cancer is a complex disease that requires specialized training for healthcare professionals who work to treat the disease, and dieticians who are assigned to work with cancer patients are no exception. Nutrition experts who receive additional, cancer-specific instruction are known as oncology dieticians, and they can be an important contributor to any cancer treatment plan. In a battle against cancer, patients will increase their chances for a positive outcome if healthy eating habits are combined with a professionally planned and monitored nutrition program.

As the foundation for any cancer-fighting nutrition strategy, an early screening for possible diet deficiencies should be performed. Being both underweight and overweight goes against you. Patients who are malnourished and/or significantly underweight will often do less well than their properly nourished counterparts as do those individuals who are morbidly obese.

A cancer patient’s diet should be carefully monitored to ensure that nutrition deficiencies have been properly identified and addressed. The oncology dietician will design the cancer patient’s diet to meet the challenges presented by issues such as:

• Sudden fluctuations in normal or typical weight: The oncology dietician will determine if a cancer patient has experienced a significant weight loss or gain as the result of their disease or subsequent treatments. While weight loss is typically associated with cancer, weight gain or current morbid obesity can also complicate a cancer patient’s care.
• Changes in food consumption habits: Because cancer can be a physically devastating and debilitating disease, it can dramatically affect a cancer patient’s eating habits. The oncology dietician will work with doctors and patients to document and chart a cancer patient’s past and present dietary habits. Since it is quite common for many individuals to have less than ideal eating habits—far too much fat, sugar, and salt—the oncology dietician will attempt to modify such undesirable food intakes as part of an overall optimal nutrition plan. During a critical time of serious illness, a cancer patient’s body needs all the proper nutrition help it can get.
• Physical obstacles to proper nutrition: Optimal dietary plans for cancer patients will often be complicated by a variety of disease or treatment related symptoms such as severe nausea and vomiting, mouth sores or lesions, dry mouth, impaired taste buds, diarrhea, constipation, severe or moderate loss of appetite and more. These are all challenges for the the oncology dietician.

Eat plenty of different fruits and vegetables. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. Fruits and vegetables provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health. Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories and are filling.

• Sudden fluctuations in normal or typical weight: The oncology dietician will determine if a cancer patient has experienced a significant weight loss or gain as the result of their disease or subsequent treatments. While severe weight loss is typically associated with cancer, weight gain or current morbid obesity can also complicate a cancer patient’s care. A cancer patient’s weight is generally assessed within the past six months prior to diagnosis.

• Changes in food consumption habits: Because cancer can be a physically devastating and debilitating disease, it is easily understood how it can dramatically affect a cancer patient’s eating habits. The oncology dietician will work closely with doctors and patients to accurately document and chart a cancer patient’s past and present dietary habits. Since it is quite common for many individuals to have less than ideal eating habits—far too much fat, sugar, and salt—the oncology dietician will attempt to modify such undesirable food intakes as part of an overall optimal nutrition plan. During a critical time of serious illness, a cancer patient’s body needs all the proper nutrition help it can get.

• Physical obstacles to proper nutrition: Optimal dietary plans for cancer patients will oftentimes be complicated by a variety of disease or treatment related symptoms such as severe nausea and vomiting, mouth sores or lesions, dry mouth, impaired taste buds, diarrhea, constipation, severe or moderate loss of appetite and more. These are all challenges that the oncology dietician must attempt to overcome in order to ensure that each and every cancer patient has the nutritional tools needed to fight their disease. Ideally, the oncology dietician will succeed in his or her goal to provide a nutrition plan that will enable the patient to proceed with their lives in as normal and enjoyable a manner possible.