The Role Of Nutrition In Supporting Pediatric Cancer
Behind every nutritional recommendation for childhood cancer patients lies a deeply personal journey, where each meal becomes a symbol of strength, healing, and hope in the face of adversity.
Nutritional care within pediatric oncology is usually related to the supportive care aspect during the management of the underlying cancer. However, it has a far more fundamental importance with respect to a growing, developing child who has cancer. Many children undergoing cancer treatment are undernourished or become undernourished during the treatment. This may be due to the disease itself, to the host's phenotype, to the patient's socioeconomic status, or to the treatment being provided. This can result in multiple nutritional problems. Thus, it is important for pediatric oncologists to be aware that nutrition can play a crucial role in the quality of life and nutritional outcomes of pediatric malignancies as well as the subsequent evolution of adult cancers.
When a child is battling from cancer, pediatricians and pediatric oncologists can provide nutritional guidance, but parents should also be aware of what can be done to support the child's nutritional journey during this time.
How You Can Help Your Child in Eating Right
1. Staying Hydrated: Children suffering from cancer often lose a lot of water from vomiting, diarrhea, or by just not drinking enough, which may lead to dehydration. The best way to avoid this is to make sure your child gets plenty of liquids. The importance and benefits of regular water (bottled or tap water) cannot be emphasized enough. Water helps with nearly every body function, from metabolizing fat and digestion, to maintaining body temperature and flushing medicinal toxins from the body. You can alternate water with unsweetened fresh juices, tender coconut water, buttermilk, fruits and vegetables and soups.
2. Eating Adequately: Encouraging sick children to eat adequately can be challenging, but opting for techniques like offering smaller, frequent meals, avoiding water or liquids with food, calorie and nutrient dense foods, and even using smaller plates to make portions seem more manageable can help. It is also important to compensate for reduced calorie intake during chemotherapy or other treatment processes with high-calorie options like porridge, cream-based soups, and milkshakes as per the pediatrician’s recommendation. You can also consider giving your child pureed food or blander foods like softly cooked pasta, rice, millets and soups to avoid strong smells and mouth sores.
3. Physical Activity: Being active through the treatment is beneficial. Mild to moderate activity has been shown to improve the quality of life and psychosocial outcomes, while some reports on attenuating the treatment-related side effects.
4. Eating to Reduce Side-Effects: Children suffering from cancer often face side effects like nausea, vomiting, dry mouth, and changes in taste or smell. Their eating habits get disrupted from swallowing difficulties and altered taste preferences. Although, these issues fade after the treatment, it is crucial to manage them during therapy. In order to combat nausea, use bland, odorless foods, and avoid salty, sweet, fatty, or fried options; in order to treat diarrhea, use food that is easily digestible, like bananas and rice, while avoiding dairy, caffeine, and high-fiber products. Keeping a close eye on your child's diet and adjusting it as needs can ease the discomfort caused by treatment. It is very important to customize the nutritional plan to the treatment protocol and the symptoms experienced by the patient. There is no one-size-fits-all kind of diet plan and therefore understanding the array of side-effects and individualizing the diet becomes pivotal.
5. Undernutrition and Infections: Children undergoing treatment are particularly prone to infections. Infections are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric cancer patients. A low body weight and significant weight loss during treatment courses are strong indicators linked with both bacterial and fungal infections and lower survival. Building the nutrition status and maintaining a healthy body weight is imperative during cancer treatment.
Maintaining your child's focus on nutrition during treatment can be tricky, but it is important. Healthy eating that emphasizes nutrition is both primary and secondary prevention strategy for improving long-term health problems, especially for pediatric cancer patients. Keeping hydrated and eating well will help your child endure and adhere to treatments, avoid infections, maintain a healthy weight, and stay strong during the course of treatment. Medicines can only help as long as it is supported by the right nutrition. Thus, both parents and pediatric oncology specialists should focus on providing healthy nutrition to children suffering from cancer to supports their overall well-being and aids in treatment effectiveness.
