cancer care
Nutrition in cancer care Cancer is a major cause of death and morbidity in the UK and 29 percent of deaths were caused by it in 2011. Approximately 159,000 people died in 2011 in the UK from various types of cancer (1). Lung, bowel, breast and prostate cancer are the most common forms of cancer and account for over half of the causes of death. Dr Mabel Blades Independent Freelance Dietitian and Nutritionist
Advice to those being treated for various types of cancer on nutrition can be of vital importance to enhancing the outcome of treatments, as well as feelings of wellbeing. Thus the role of the Registered Dietitian in undertaking such work can be important to outcomes. Screening and treatments for various types of cancer mean that nowadays many more people diagnosed with the condition survive than did in the past. Malnutrition is associated with cancer and indeed can be one of the symptoms that cause individuals to seek a GP appointment and to commence the pathway to the diagnosis of cancer. The complication of malnutrition in cancer can adversely affect the outcome of treatment (2). Unfortunately about 40 percent of those with cancer have been found to suffer from protein energy malnutrition (3). In those with head and neck cancers this can increase to 80 percent. Factors causing cancer
Dr Mabel Blades is a member of the BDA and NAGE, Food Counts and Freelance Dietitians specialist Groups. As a Registered Dietitian she is passionate about diet and that anyone with a diagnosis of cancer gets the best nutritional advice possible.
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Lifestyle factors of diet (including obesity) have been well recognised with the development of various forms of cancer. Indeed, the World Cancer Research Fund in 2007 in their comprehensive report on the subject of ‘Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer; a Global Perspective’, considered that up to 35 percent cancer cases throughout the world are preventable by dietary means (4). The following associations of diet with a higher risk of cancer are found:
NHDmag.com April 2015 - Issue 103
• Obesity with endometrial and breast cancer. • Lack of fibre and colon cancer. • High intake of meat and meat products with colorectal cancer. • Excess alcohol with liver cancer. • High salt intake with stomach cancer. • One of the key dietary aspects associated with a lower incidence of oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal, pancreatic, lung, colorectal, breast and prostate was considered to be a lack of fruit and vegetable consumption. Accordingly the World Cancer Research Fund made various recommendations to rectify this: • Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight. • Be physically active as part of everyday life. • Limit consumption of energy-dense foods and avoid sugary drinks. • Eat mostly foods of plant origin. • Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat. • Limit alcoholic drinks. • Limit consumption of salt and avoid mouldy cereals (grains) or pulses. • Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone. • Mothers to breastfeed children. • All cancer survivors to receive nutritional care from an appropriately trained professional if able to do so and, unless otherwise advised, aim to follow the recommendations for diet, healthy weight and physical activity.
