A Diet for Liver Cancer Patients
Liver cancer and its treatments can make eating unappealing, but it's important to maintain your weight and strength.
If you have liver cancer, eating may be the last thing you want to do. The disease and its treatments can make food seem unappealing. Even so, your body needs those calories to maintain your weight and give you the strength to heal.
Your diet during treatment can also make a big difference in how your body fights cancer, says Liudmila Schafer, MD , a medical oncologist and author of The Other Side of Oncology: High Octane Observations From The Medical Front.
The key to maintaining your weight and strength while undergoing treatment for liver cancer is to try and find a diet plan that both sounds appetizing and meets your health needs.
How to do that? Here are some dos — and don’ts — for your diet if you’re undergoing treatment for liver cancer.
Plan to consume six to eight smaller meals a day, instead of three large ones, says Stacy Davis, a registered dietitian at Flavorful Nutrition in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mini meals can help limit nausea.
You can also feel free to graze and snack all day, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS) . The more you can find ways to take in nutrients, the better. See if any of these ACS-approved snacks sound appealing:
You don’t have to stop there. If something sounds good, but you’re not sure if it’s bad for your liver, reach out to your oncologist’s office or your dietician.
Protein packs a punch when it comes to providing your body with the building blocks it needs to rebuild and heal itself. Dr. Schafer suggests low-fat dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese or dairy substitutes. Nuts, nut butter, and beans can also provide hefty amounts of protein.
You probably grew up hearing an adult tell you to eat your fruit and vegetables. “Fruits and veggies are full of fiber, antioxidants, and nutrients needed to support the immune system during treatment,” Davis says.
Those undergoing treatment for liver cancer often experience nausea. Ginger can help knock out these queasy feelings and you can consume it in a variety of ways, from adding it to recipes, to brewing it as a tea.
“Ginger increases the speed of gastric emptying and is felt to have anti-inflammatory effects, both of which decrease a person’s sense of nausea,” says Susannah Cooper, MD, a medical oncologist at Arizona Oncology . Ginger can, “provide meaningful benefits with a low risk of side effects,” according to Dr. Cooper.
Experts at Weill Cornell Medicine recommend avoiding fatty meats and instead eating more healthy fats. Try to “avoid fried, greasy, and fatty foods; choose baked, broiled, or grilled foods instead,” Schafer says.
“This doesn’t mean that patients with liver cancer should never eat red meat,” Cooper says, “Only to be aware that it may contribute to worse outcomes and should be eaten in moderation.”
Keep your water bottle filled to the brim and make sure you drink when you are thirsty. Water flushes your system and helps your body heal faster, according to City of Hope. It’s probably best to stay away from sugary drinks, Davis says, since they don’t have much nutritional benefit.
While nutrition bars may not be your provider’s first choice for your diet, the ACS says they can carry lots of important nutrients that can help you meet your calorie needs for the day. “During cancer treatment, feeding the body a balanced diet is so important,” says Yelena Wheeler, a registered dietician at the Measurement Instrument Database for Social Sciences (MIDSS) in Los Angeles.
“People undergoing treatment often can lose their ability to taste; therefore, some foods may just taste better, even though they are processed,” she says. In other words, if a nutrition bar sounds good, go for it. If you feel creative one day, you can try to make homemade bars, but you can also stick with store-bought.
Sometimes eating a meal just isn’t in the cards, whether it’s because you feel too exhausted or nothing sounds good. When this happens, it may be a good idea to have some nutritional beverages floating around.
While most dietitians say “real food” is best, supplement drinks, such as Ensure or Boost, can be an easy way to give your body some concentrated nutrients, according to Cancer Research UK. They usually come in individual servings and can be found in almost any grocery store, as well as online. A word to the wise: Patients often say they taste better if you keep them refrigerated.
While treating yourself to a nightcap or a glass of wine with dinner may sound nice, keep in mind that your liver is already stressed. Research says that alcohol gets processed mostly in your liver. “Many [cancer] treatments require that the liver is working properly, and progression of liver disease due to alcohol use can lead to limited treatment options,” Cooper says.
See if you can find another way to treat yourself. Who knows, you may discover a new love of mocktails!
When your liver struggles, the University of Maryland notes it often causes a buildup of extra fluid around your organs called ascites, per the American Liver Foundation . Unfortunately, salt can add to this problem. When you eat salt, it eventually gets absorbed into your bloodstream. And where salt goes, water follows, according to Harvard Health Publishing. When your blood vessels finally say, “Enough!” they push that water out through your blood vessel walls, per research, which can add to the buildup around your liver.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, extra water around your organs can cause :
When you are fatigued and tired because of your liver cancer and treatments, it may be hard to eat and maintain your weight. But a nutritious diet is important and can help you gain strength and feel better. It is best to discuss your dietary needs with a dietitian. Your oncologist can recommend one if you don’t know where to start.
Additional reporting by Abby McCoy.
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