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Eating Right During Cancer Treatment
When you're being treated for cancer, it's more important than ever to eat a healthy diet and get good nutrition -- but it can also be more difficult than ever. Your body is working overtime to fight the cancer, while it's also doing extra duty to repair healthy cells that may have been damaged as a side effect of treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. At the same time, many cancer treatments -- especially chemotherapy -- come with side effects that drain your strength and sap your appetite. So how can you make sure you're getting all the essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals you need?
You might assume the answer lies in power doses of vitamin supplements. After all, if you're having trouble keeping food down, wouldn't it be easier to get nutrients from a simple capsule? Not necessarily. "If you want to supplement the nutrition you get from your regular diet, we recommend taking just one multivitamin per day from a reputable manufacturer," says Gary Deng, MD, assistant attending and assistant member in the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
"We suggest that patients avoid high-dose multivitamins, because there is some concern that some of these, especially those with high-dose antioxidants, may interfere with treatment. As long as there remains controversy about this, we think it's prudent not to take high-dose multivitamins."
Plus, it's almost impossible to get "too much" of any given vitamin through food alone, while loading up on some vitamins in pill form can cause problems, like dangerous buildup in the liver. If a certain amount of a nutrient is good for you, twice or three times as much is not necessarily better.
Certain kinds of herbal supplements, like St. John's wort, can also interact badly with some types of cancer treatment. "Some complex herbal extracts may contain substances that can change drug metabolism, interfering with the way in which your body metabolizes chemotherapy," warns Deng. Talk to your doctor before taking any type of herbal product or supplement during cancer treatment.
Get Vitamins In Food, Not Capsules
Instead, say experts, focus on what you need most now: calories. When you're being treated for cancer, taking in enough calories to maintain your strength and keep your body going trumps pretty much everything else. "For many people undergoing chemotherapy, we're happy to tell them to eat whatever they like to eat. If it appeals to you and you can keep it down, then eat it," says Deng. "If you ask someone to eat too strict a diet, often they end up not eating enough."
If you have trouble eating enough at mealtimes, many experts recommend adding a nutritional supplement nutrition drink to the menu. Check the label to make sure your supplement shake contains a variety of vitamins and minerals. Most 8-ounce nutritional supplement drinks are fortified to provide 25% of the vitamins you need each day.
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Breast Cancer Guide
VIVELLE-DOT (estradiol transdermal system) IS AVAILABLE BY PRESCRPTION ONLY.
INDICATION
Vivelle-Dot is used after menopause to: reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; treat moderate to severe dryness, itching and burning in or around the vagina; help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones); and treat certain conditions in which a young woman's ovaries do not produce enough estrogens naturally. Vivelle-Dot 0.025 mg/day is only used to prevent osteoporosis from menopause. If you use Vivelle-Dot only to treat your dryness, itching, and burning in and around your vagina or if you use Vivelle-Dot only to prevent osteoporosis from menopause, talk with your healthcare professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Estrogens increase the chances of getting cancer of the uterus (womb). Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are taking estrogens. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb).
Do not use estrogens with or without progestins to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, or strokes. Using estrogens with or without progestins may increase your chances of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, and blood clots. Using estrogens with progestins may increase your risk of dementia (decline in memory and thinking skills).
Vivelle-Dot should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding; currently have or have had certain cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus; had a stroke or heart attack in the recent past (for example, in the past year); currently have or have had blood clots; currently have or have had liver problems; or think you may be, or know that you are, pregnant.
The most common side effects that may occur with Vivelle-Dot are headache, breast tenderness, and back pain.
You and your healthcare professional should talk regularly about whether you still need treatment with Vivelle-Dot.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Please see Full Prescribing Information for Vivelle-Dot.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and a new study reveals why a high number of women with the disease still prefer to have the entire breast surgically removed instead of just the tumor. It's not always because doctors recommend it.
