What are the dietary taboos for lung cancer?

At present, there is no authoritative research to prove that there are "anti-cancer taboo foods" that lung cancer patients must not touch. The only three types of foods that really need to be avoided actively are those that are clearly allergic, clearly contain carcinogens, and will aggravate adverse reactions during the current treatment stage. Most of the other "fat foods" and "universal taboo lists" circulated on the Internet have no scientific basis.

I just treated an early-stage lung cancer patient last month who was undergoing a follow-up examination 3 months after surgery. I heard from fellow patients in the community that beef, mutton, seafood, and chicken are all "hairy foods" and eating them will induce the recurrence of cancer cells. For three months, he only dared to eat boiled vegetables and millet porridge. His face was sallow when he came. Yes, the blood albumin test was only 28g/L. The surgical incision, which should have been healed in one month, is still leaking. In the end, I had to take an additional three days of albumin infusion to recover. Fortunately, it was discovered early. If it were delayed any longer, complications such as infection would be more likely to occur.

In fact, there has always been a lot of controversy about the diet for lung cancer. For example, many people believe that "sugar will feed cancer cells" and say that cancer patients cannot touch any sweets. This statement is actually too absolute. If you are so nauseous during chemotherapy that you can't even swallow porridge, eating two bites of sweet and sour strawberries and a small piece of cream cake can cushion your stomach. There is no need to endure it. Only patients with diabetes or particularly large blood sugar fluctuations while taking targeted drugs need to properly control their intake of refined sugar.

The points of attention are different at different stages of treatment. Don’t just rely on the general requirements online. If you are in the recovery period after surgery, just avoid eating foods that are too hard, too hot, or too pungent. After all, you have just undergone chest surgery, and severe choking and esophageal scratches may cause pain at the incision, which is not worth the gain. If you are undergoing radiotherapy and the mucous membrane of your throat is so swollen that it hurts to swallow saliva, avoid irritating things like white wine, raw garlic, and spicy millet. Otherwise, the pain will be so painful that you can’t even drink water, which will hinder the treatment.

If you are taking targeted drugs, there is one thing you really need to avoid - fruits with particularly high furanocoumarin content, such as grapefruit and Seville oranges, will inhibit the enzymes in the liver that metabolize targeted drugs, leading to abnormally high blood drug concentrations. An old patient thought grapefruit had more vitamins and ate half of it a day. After a month of taking it, he had a blood test. The blood concentration of targeted drugs was twice as high as the standard value, and liver enzymes also rose a lot. After stopping grapefruit for half a month, it slowly came back down. Don't take it seriously.

In fact, after so many years of exposure, I feel that the core of the diet for lung cancer patients has never been "taboos", but "enough". As long as they are not allergic and comfortable to eat, they can eat high-quality protein, fresh fruits and vegetables without worry. There is no need to stare at the taboo list on the Internet and dare not eat this or touch that. Only by keeping up with nutrition can you withstand the side effects of treatment and recover faster.