Diet For Prostate Cancer Radiation Treatment

Guidelines For A Healthy Diet

Your diet should be:

• Include plenty of fruits and vegetables
• High in fiber
• Low in fat
• Limited in the amount of simple sugars

In addition, drink adequate fluids and be physically active to help achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

A diet that is primarily plant-based includes the following:

• Fruits and vegetables
• Other plant protein sources

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy

IMRT, an advanced form of 3D-CRT therapy, is the most common type of external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer. It uses a computer-driven machine that moves around the patient as it delivers radiation. Along with shaping the beams and aiming them at the prostate from several angles, the intensity of the beams can be adjusted to limit the doses of radiation reaching nearby normal tissues. This lets doctors deliver an even higher radiation dose to the cancer.

Some newer radiation machines have imaging scanners built into them. This advance, known as image guided radiation therapy , lets the doctor take pictures of the prostate just before giving the radiation to make minor adjustments in aiming. This appears to help deliver the radiation even more precisely and results in fewer side effects.

A variation of IMRT is called volumetric modulated arc therapy . It uses a machine that delivers radiation quickly as it rotates once around the body. This allows each treatment to be given over just a few minutes. Although this can be more convenient for the patient, it hasnt yet been shown to be more effective than regular IMRT.

The Healthcare Team May Ask Questions About Diet And Weight History

Screening is used to look for health problems that affect the risk of poor nutrition. This can help find out if the patient is likely to become malnourished, and if nutrition therapy is needed.

The healthcare team may ask questions about the following:

• Weight changes over the past year.
• Changes in the amount and type of food eaten.
• Problems that have affected eating, such as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, mouth sores, dry mouth, changes in taste and smell, or pain.
• Ability to walk and do other activities of daily living .

A physical exam is done to check the body for general health and signs of disease. The patient is checked for signs of loss of weight, fat, and muscle, and for fluid buildup in the body.

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Adding Exercises To Your Daily Routine

Find physical activities you enjoy. This will make it more likely that you will do them regularly. Remember that any small increases in activity will help. Set small goals and gradually work your way up.

Exercise can be broken up into 2 or 3 sessions. For example, if you dont have 1 whole hour to exercise, try walking for 30 minutes twice a day. Try the following ideas for exercise:

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Get off the bus or subway 1 stop early and walk the rest of the way.
• Walk to work, class, or the store or walk your pets.
• Take a 2-mile brisk walk in 30 minutes.
• Increase your time spent on household tasks, such as vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and washing dishes .
• Take activity breaks at work.
• Swim laps for 20 minutes.
• Take a 4-mile bike ride in 15 minutes.
• Play volleyball for 45 minutes.
• Play basketball for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Dance for 30 minutes.

• Poultry

For protein, you can also substitute plant proteins, such as beans.

Your meal might not always look exactly like the plate shown here. You could have a cup of lentil and vegetable soup and a small apple, and youd be getting a similar kind of meal and proportions. Also, you might get more vegetables at lunch and dinner than at breakfast. Just keep in mind the ideas of mostly plant-based and portion controlled for all meals.

Tips For Nutrition During Cancer Treatment

• Maintain a healthy weight. For many men, this means avoiding weight loss by getting enough calories on a daily basis. For men who are overweight and are obese, this may mean losing some weight. If you are trying to lose weight, it should be moderate, meaning only about a pound a week.
• Get essential nutrients the body needs, such as protein, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, such as carotenoids, and water. Not only will your body function better, you will feel better.
• Be as active as you can, such as taking a daily walk. If you sit or sleep too much, you may lose muscle mass and increase your body fat, even if you are not gaining weight.

If you are struggling to eat enough or are eating too much, nutrition counseling may help you get essential nutrients, such as protein, vitamins, and minerals into your diet and maintain a healthy body weight. Ask your health care team for a referral to a registered dietitian or nutritionist. Dietitians and other members of the health care team work with people to meet their nutritional needs.

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Prevalence Of Bowel Symptoms

Diarrhoea was the most prevalent symptom during the acute phase, 76% in the NIG and 69% in the SCG reported at least quite a bit of diarrhoea .4). Other symptoms rated quite a bit during the acute phase were limitations to daily activities due to bowel symptoms and bloated abdomen. Bloated abdomen was also the most common symptom during the late phase. Blood in stools was less prevalent in the NIG compared with the SCG during the acute and the late phase. There were no differences between the groups regarding the self-reported data on other bowel symptoms, or use of medication due to bowel symptoms during or after RT .

Ni Associations With Bowel Symptoms

The baseline levels of bowel symptoms were low in both groups. Most bowel symptoms worsened from baseline during the acute phase and then improved during the late phase, although not returning completely to baseline levels .3). The NI was associated with less bother from blood in stools and less bother from flatulence during the acute phase but these differences were not clinically significant. However, the NI was associated with an increase in bloated abdomen during the late phase .3). There were no associations between the NI and bowel symptoms in the per-protocol analyses .

Mean scores for bowel symptoms at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 2 months, 7 months, 12 months, 18 months and 24 months. Variables from the QLQ-C30, QLQ-PR25 and GISEQ assessing bowel symptoms among patients with prostate cancer undergoing radiotherapy, who received the nutrition intervention and those who received standard care . Abbreviations: Bloating, bloated abdomen Bowel symptoms, aggregated scale bowel symptoms Limitations, limitations of daily activities due to bowel symptoms Leakage, unintentional leakage of stools. Note: Scores ranges from 0 to 100 in EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PR25, and from 0 to 10 in GISEQ

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Anorexia And Cachexia Are Common Causes Of Malnutrition In Cancer Patients

Anorexia is the loss of appetite or desire to eat. It is a common symptom in patients with cancer. Anorexia may occur early in the disease or later, if the cancer grows or spreads. Some patients already have anorexia when they are diagnosed with cancer. Most patients who have advanced cancer will have anorexia. Anorexia is the most common cause of malnutrition in cancer patients.

Cachexia is a condition marked by weakness, weight loss, and fat and muscle loss. It is common in patients with tumors that affect eating and digestion. It can occur in cancer patients who are eating well, but are not storing fat and muscle because of tumor growth.

Some tumors change the way the body uses certain nutrients. The body’s use of protein, carbohydrates, and fat may change when tumors are in the stomach, intestines, or head and neck. A patient may seem to be eating enough, but the body may not be able to absorb all the nutrients from the food.

Cancer patients may have anorexia and cachexia at the same time.

Find Out Your Caloric Needs

Your caloric need is the number of calories your body needs. It depends on:

• Your age
• Your muscle mass
• The amount and type of exercise you do
• Your overall health

An adult female generally needs 1600 to 2200 calories per day. An adult male generally needs 2200 to 2800 calories per day. In general, if youre older or less active, you need fewer calories. If you have a lot of muscle or are very active, you need more calories.

Finding out how many calories your body needs can help you gain or lose weight. There are 3,500 calories in 1 pound of body weight.

Your body weight in pounds x 12 = your estimated daily caloric need

If you need to lose weight, subtract 500 calories from your estimated daily caloric need. If you need to gain weight, add 500 calories to your estimated daily caloric need.

For example, if you weigh 200 pounds:

• 200 pounds x 12 = 2,400 calories
• For weight loss: 2,400 calories – 500 calories = 1,900 calories per day
• For weight gain: 2,400 calories + 500 calories = 2,900 calories per day

If you need to lose weight, or just want more information on a balanced diet, you can also visit the United States Department of Agriculture website at www.ChooseMyPlate.gov. You can enter your height, weight, age, and activity level, and a healthy meal plan will be created for you. You may also schedule an appointment with an outpatient dietitian for diet counseling.

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Should I Use Supplements Or Herbal Remedies

Some people like to use dietary supplements or herbal remedies, but theres little evidence theyre helpful for men with prostate cancer. Some may even be harmful.

Dietary supplements

Theres little evidence that supplements are helpful for men with prostate cancer. Some supplements may interfere with your treatment for prostate cancer, so let your doctor or nurse know if youre taking any.

Most people should be able to get all the nutrients they need by eating a balanced diet, without taking supplements. If you do choose to take supplements, dont take more than the recommended daily allowance for each nutrient because large doses could be bad for your health.

Some men may need to take specific supplements. For example,

• Vitamin D. Between October and March, try to take 10 micrograms of vitamin D supplements every day. This is because during these months, there is not enough sunlight in the UK for your body to produce enough vitamin D.
• Calcium. If youre on hormone therapy, your doctor might recommend calcium supplements.

Herbal remedies

Some men like to take herbal medicines to help manage their prostate cancer or the side effects of treatment. For example, some men drink sage tea to help with hot flushes. But there is very little evidence that herbal remedies can help to treat prostate cancer or reduce side effects.

Herbal supplements being tested

When Should I Call My Healthcare Provider About Diarrhea

• You experience more than 5 episodes of diarrhea or loose stools per day with no improvement after 2 days.
• You see blood in your stool or in the toilet after a bowel movement.
• You lose more than 4 pounds due to diarrhea.
• Your diarrhea is accompanied by a fever.
• Your abdomen becomes puffy, swollen, or sore.
• You have used anti-diarrheal medications and you do not have improvement in your diarrhea within 36 hours.
• Your diarrhea is accompanied by persistent cramps, nausea, or vomiting.

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Find Your Body Mass Index

BMI is a measurement of the amount of fat in your body based on your height and weight. It can help you learn if your weight is healthy or not. A healthy BMI for an adult is between 18.5 and 24.9.

You can calculate your BMI using the tool on this website: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm. You can also find your BMI on the BMI table below. To use the table:

For example, if youre 5 feet, 5 inches tall and you weigh 168 pounds, then your BMI is 28. This means youre considered overweight. Your goal should be to achieve a BMI that puts you in the normal range.

If your BMI is above 25, look for the weights that correlate with a healthy BMI for your height. That should be your target weight.

Keep in mind that BMI is only one health measure. Other measures include waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference, which look at weight in your abdominal area. Extra weight in the abdominal area is associated with an increased risk for certain illnesses, even in people with a normal BMI.

Diet Tips For Prostate Health

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What Are Tips For Caregivers Helping People Who Are On This Diet

• Utilize kitchen tools such as an immersion blender, food processer, or juicer for creative ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables safely. This breaks down the fiber in fresh produce, making it easier to digest.
• Use cooking methods that keep foods moist and soft rather than methods that dry out foods .

Eat Fruits And Vegetables

A plate filled with colorful fruits and vegetables raises your fiber and antioxidant levels. Both benefit your cancer care.

The high fiber content in fruits and vegetables may help lower your testosterone levels. That may be useful because testosterone helps stimulate tumor growth. Fiber may also bind to cancer-causing substances and move them out of your body.

Antioxidants help rid your body of free radicals — molecules that damage your cells. They can affect the growth of cancer. A diet full of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables helps keep free radicals at bay.

Pomerantz says researchers are checking to see if certain antioxidants in supplement form, like vitamin E and selenium, could actually raise the chances of getting prostate cancer for some people.

“There are hints that there are a subset of people with prostate cancer who benefit considerably from antioxidants, and there are others with a rare specific genetic variant who don’t,” Pomerantz says. “There are studies ongoing to see if we can figure out exactly who fits in each category.”

Always check with your doctor before taking supplements.

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General Information And History

Calcium, the most abundant mineral in the body, is found in some foods, added to others, available as a dietary supplement, and present in some medicines . Calcium is required for vascular contraction and vasodilation, muscle function, nerve transmission, intracellular signaling, and hormonal secretion, although less than 1% of total body calcium is needed to support these critical metabolic functions. Serum calcium is very tightly regulated and does not fluctuate with changes in dietary intake the body uses bone tissue as a reservoir for, and source of, calcium to maintain constant concentrations of calcium in blood, muscle, and intercellular fluids.

To evaluate the association between calcium intake and prostate cancer mortality and morbidity, it may be important to assess objective, biological of calcium, include data that account for nutritional and supplemental calcium intake, and control for other confounding factors. However, studies of the association between calcium and prostate cancer have been limited to nutritional sources of calcium, such as dairy products. Although more than half of the U.S. population uses vitamin and mineral supplements , few studies include supplement use in the association of disease risk, including prostate cancer or mortality rates. For more information, see Prostate Cancer Prevention.

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