What are the most nutrional foods for cancer patients?!
Question: I am trying to help a friend that has cancer, make a list of the most nutritional, high in anti oxidant foods AND drinks to purchase. They have been going through chemo and will begin radiation soon for small cell lung cancer. I know of some foods that have high anti-oxidants, but I want to make sure I give them a complete list of the best foods and drinks they should be consuming during this time, for maximum health benefits of anti oxidants. Any herb or supplements that may be beneficial as well? Please list brand names when you can. Thank you for taking time to help.
Answers: I am trying to help a friend that has cancer, make a list of the most nutritional, high in anti oxidant foods AND drinks to purchase. They have been going through chemo and will begin radiation soon for small cell lung cancer. I know of some foods that have high anti-oxidants, but I want to make sure I give them a complete list of the best foods and drinks they should be consuming during this time, for maximum health benefits of anti oxidants. Any herb or supplements that may be beneficial as well? Please list brand names when you can. Thank you for taking time to help.
Chemotherapy should not be combined with special supplements or high antioxidant foods/juices since these may react or reduce the effectiveness of the treatment. Wait until you are off chemo and have moved on to radiation.
On chemo or off chemo, a vegetarian diet or almost vegetarian is good and will not conflict with anything.
Off chemo, there are diets that contribute to the slowing down cancers that have been proven in clinical trials. No diet will cure cancer, but trials have shown particular diets help slow down some cancers. In particular, 4 oz pomegranate juice daily slows down prostate cancer, proven. A low fat diet and satin meds to reduce cholesterol also slows it down, proven in clinical trials. Look on the web for books by Dr Charles Myers. He is number one on diet tips.
Though there's newer conflicting research, most doctors continue to advise their chemo patients not to take in supplemental antioxidants during active chemo. But here's the top ten foods or supplements in order of their ORAC values--I copied and pasted from Dr Ronald Hoffman's website.
Quote:
Top antioxidant foods are rated according to their ORAC values. ORAC or ""Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity" is an internationally recognized way to measure antioxidant levels.
Blueberries, blackberries, pomegranates, prunes, and raisins all make the top ten.
Vitamin C was made the list, but it only rated #7.
But the top three in ascending order of ORAC values are (drum roll please!): #3 grapeseed extract; #2 green tea extract; and the undisputed #1 champion--olive leaf extract.
End Quote
Sorry to hear about your friend! My best friend is battling breat cancer at the age of 36 and will also be going through radiation and chemo.
The best thing you could do is go to your local healthfood store and talk to someone who knows and has studied diets, suppliments, etc...
Some cancer patients have intolerance for certain foods and cookware. This is very common. Your friend may benefit from using all glass and ceramic cookware rather than using anything metallic. The most important thing is providing maximum nurishment for the patient, while building their immunities and strength.
Also - I would caution microwaving foods. It has been shown to decrease nutritional value.
Look for natural meats (raised without hormones and antibiotics), organic fruits, veggies and dairy products. The diet should be like anyone else's - lots of fresh produce (darker colors = more vitamins - leafy greens, dark berries, orange veggies and squashes), WHOLE GRAINS - wheat, brown rice, oats, etc..., natural beneficial fats - uncooked if you can (olive oil, safflower oil, minimal butter and not margarine), good dairy, fish with omega 3's - salmon, sardines, anchovies - at least once a week.
At my house and I have shared this with my friend, we use lots of olive oil, we stay away from red meats, we eat salmon at leaast once a week, we only eat wholegrains, I never use anything that has hydrogenated fats (very bad), we eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, we suppliment with good multivitamins and get adequate calcium. I stay away from high fructose corn syrup, sodas, and diet anything. Nutrasweet is toxic as far as I'm concerned. We eat a lot of garlic too - so good for you! If not eaten, there are great suppliments. We try to buy organic too. I've listed some of my favorite brands.
Eggland's Best Eggs
V-8 fruit/veggie juice blends
Bolthouse Farms Smoothies (by produce section) - so good!!!
Tyson Natural chicken
Barilla Wholegrain pastas + sauces
Classico pasta sauce
Kashi Cereals and bars
Hope I could help - providing a balanced and healthy diet is only going to help - My family has not been sick with even a cold this year and I know it's because of our diet! Best Wishes!
A ton of fruits and vegetables would be a sure bet. This means eat a lot of them compared to most folks. The recommended 5 fruits and veggies a day is too little. Try to do 10 helpings a day, so that they fill you up and you don't want to eat other foods. You can eat your fruits and veggies cooked or raw, but try to eat at least some raw fruits and veggies each day.
Cruciferous vegetables would be especially anticarcinogenic. These include broccoli and cauliflower, turnips, and rutabegas. Dark green veggies are loaded with antioxidents, such as Romaine lettuce, leafy green lettuce, and spinach. (But iceberg lettuce has little value.) Then you have carrots, squash, eggplant. Peas and legumes are good for you.
Amongst the fruits, go for strawberries, plums and prunes. Traditional fruits are also good: apples, bananas, pears, peaches, nectarines, and oranges. Berries of any kind are high in antioxidents.
For beverages, green tea tops the list for anitoxidents. Pomegranite juice is now getting popular and is loaded with antioxidents.
Eat a large variety of fruits and veggies. The variety helps to balance out the type and quantity of antioxidents while offsetting any negative effects of toxins.
What to cut down on: wheat, meat, and dairy.
If you feel a loss of protein, these foods are high in protein: Nuts of all kinds, dark green leafy veggies, and soy beans in any form. The champion of nuts is probably the almond. Also the walnut.
Another source of protein: fish. Eat deep sea fish to avoid toxins. Salmon. Avoid trash-feeding fish such as tilapia and shark. Absolutely avoid shell fish of all kinds (lobster, shrimp, crawfish). Shell fish is very toxic and full of cholesterol.
You need to let healthcare professionals advise your friend with cancer.
There are dietary no-no's for people in cancer treatment. Often people on chemotherapy are told to AVOID anti-oxidants because they interfere with the activity of the chemo. The same may be true of radiation therapy.
Follow what your friend's oncologist recommends, not what you or someone on the Web thinks is best for "cancer patients."
Your friend should have access to a hospital dietician. The dietician and the oncologist are the best people to ask about this.
While your thoughts are in the right place your ideas could actually be harmful to your friend. When a person is going through active cancer treatment you need to clear in advance with the oncologist all supplements and herbs taken because antioxidants also help the cancer cells to live and survive both chemotherapy and radiation so most oncologists never want a patient taking high doses of antioxidants while undergoing treatment.
I was asked to bring in a complete list of all vitamins, herbs & supplements that I normally took each day into my Dr before beginning treatment and the Dr reviewed my list and said to quit taking about 3/4 of them until a week or so after I completed all treatments. All they wanted me to continue was a single multi-vitamin. I was told to not even take an extra vitamin C tablet. No high doses of anything. We discussed the items that I had questions about in detail. Cancer already does a very good job of surviving without me helping it to survive by giving it extra nutrients and antioxidants to protect it.
As for diet, eat a well balanced diet of high quality foods with plenty of fruits and vegetables and with no over eating any single food or drink item. Getting adequate high quality calorie intake while undergoing treatment is the most important thing to concentrate on right now. Stay away from junk food, fast food and fried foods right now. Organic foods are often better because they taste better to me and do not have sprays or hormones but if they are not available fresh then buy local food that is grown nearby that you know is very fresh. Fresh food is always better tasting and better for you.
The caution against taking high doses of antioxidants or supplements without the Dr's ok applies to both chemotherapy and radiation treatments - contrary to the advice in at least one answer you have received. Radiation also counts on cell death of the malignant cells in order to work correctly and high amounts of antioxidants will help keep the malignant cells from dying.
good luck to your friend