Cancer Nutrition Tips

Proper diet to get all the vitally needed vitamins and minerals your body needs is key to a healthy lifestyle but essential for cancer patients.  Many people presume once they are diagnosed with cancer that it is too late to change eating habits to improve nutritional uptake to minimize side effects while increasing quality of life.  In reality, any cancer diagnosis should be a wake up call that what you do each day matters.  Remember to work with your doctors including a nutritionist to plan a cancer nutrition roadmap that complements your therapy.

Depending on your type of cancer and the recommended therapy involved to turn a patient into a survivor will dictate what supplements you need to take and how much.  Also don't be afraid to deviant from the roadmap if you feel something is not helping; your body is your best friend when it comes to what you need.  Consult with your doctor before making any changes since every therapy has its own side effects.

Cancer Nutrition Options

Many options exist for the actual intake of nutritional supplements for cancer patients and survivors including powders, liquids, soft gel capsules and traditional pills.  Some people find it near impossible to swallow a pill, especially one that is large enough for a horse, when fighting cancer so liquid vitamins or powder mineral supplements are a good alternative.  Another benefit is liquid form nutrients generally are absorbed by the body quicker than traditional hard vitamins.  For those who don't care for the taste of liquid vitamins but also struggle with large pills then soft gel capsules are a nice medium.  Soft gel vitamins are quite a bit easier to take down and larger pills may be in the form of two or three smaller capsules.

If you know some one with cancer you may be considering what you can do for your own cancer prevention.  A big step is proper diet with the minerals and supplements necessary to keep your immune system strong.  Fighting off cancer or any other disease requires constant monitoring of the individuals health support system which is directly related to nutrition.  Here is a quick list of vitamin supplements to aid in a healthy lifestyle for cancer patients, survivors and everyone else:


  • B-1

  • Zinc

  • Boron

  • Vitamin C

  • Vitamin A

  • Potassium

  • Magnesium

  • Calcium

  • Chromium

  • Germanium


You can get many of these essential vitamins with one of the several multivitamins available and sometimes companies add fancy names for some of the nutrients.  For example one variation of Beta-Carotene is mainly comprised of Vitamin A with some Vitamin E & Lecithin.

Cancer nutrition may seem overwhelming but with the help of your doctor and nutritionist a simple plan is easy to put in place.  Remember to talk to your provider about what you feel is working, what's not and discuss possible changes to maximize the nutrition strategy.  It is just as important to maintain a healthy lifestyle covering all your necessary minerals once finished with cancer therapy as it is during the difficult treatment phase.  Keeping with your plan will allow you to claim cancer survivor status for years to come.