The short answer
What to Eat During Cancer Treatment is a cookbook listed under the American Cancer Society's name. We could not open a source for its contents, so this page does not describe the book in detail. It covers what NCI's nutrition guidance says about eating during treatment.
We could not open a source for the book's contents, so check the book itself and ask your care team before relying on it.
NCI says people with cancer may need extra protein and calories.
NCI says a registered dietitian can help you get the right amount of protein and calories during and after treatment.
Chemotherapy can lower white blood cells, so NCI says it is important to learn how to prepare food safely.
On this page
About this book
- Author:
- American Cancer Society
- First published:
- 2009
- Type:
- Cookbook
- Cancer covered:
- Not diagnosis-specific; organized around eating problems common to many cancer treatments, such as nausea, mouth sores, and appetite loss.
This page describes a published book for education. We have no financial relationship with any author or publisher and earn nothing if you buy it. A book — including one written by a doctor — is not medical advice, and one person’s experience is not a guide to your own care.
Choose how you want to read this
The whole article, with every detail and caution.
About the book
What to Eat During Cancer Treatment is a cookbook listed under the American Cancer Society's name. We could not open a source describing its contents, so we do not describe the recipes or how they were developed. If you use any cookbook during treatment, check it against advice from your own care team.
A cookbook cannot account for your blood counts, allergies or treatment plan. Chemotherapy can lower your white blood cells, which fight infection. NCI says it is important that you and your caregivers learn how to prepare food safely. Ask your care team what food safety rules apply to you right now.
Be careful with any claim that a particular food treats or slows cancer. Talk with your care team before relying on such a claim, or before changing your diet in a big way.
Eating during treatment, as NCI describes it
NCI describes eating problems that can come with cancer treatment. Chemotherapy can cause loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, dry mouth, sores in the mouth or throat, changes in how food tastes, and trouble swallowing.
NCI says that when you have cancer, you may need extra protein and calories. NCI suggests aiming for smaller meals and snacks five to six times a day. Ask your care team what is right for you.
Sometimes eating by mouth cannot provide enough nutrition. NCI then describes feeding through a tube into the stomach or small intestine, such as a nasogastric, gastrostomy or jejunostomy tube. It also describes parenteral nutrition, which gives nutrients through a vein. These are decisions made with your oncology team.
NCI says a registered dietitian can help make sure you get the right amount of protein and calories during and after cancer treatment. They work with you, your family and the rest of your medical team. For symptom-level detail, see eating during chemotherapy and eating when you have no appetite.
Who should use this page
This page is for anyone looking for ideas about eating during treatment. It does not replace an individual plan from an oncology dietitian. Only a dietitian who knows your labs and treatment can build that.
Solid nutrition guidance and marketing claims can be hard to tell apart in this genre. For the wider picture, see cancer nutrition without diet misinformation.
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Sources
- NCI — Nutrition in Cancer Care (PDQ)
- NCI — Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Eating during chemotherapy (Cancer Explained)
This page discusses What to Eat During Cancer Treatment for education. It is not medical advice, and nothing here is a judgement of anyone's real medical care.
Common questions
Can a cookbook replace advice from my care team?
No. A cookbook cannot account for your blood counts, allergies or treatment. NCI says a registered dietitian can work with you, your family and your medical team.
Do I need to eat differently during treatment?
NCI says that when you have cancer, you may need extra protein and calories. Your care team or a registered dietitian can tell you what fits you.
What if eating by mouth is not enough?
NCI describes feeding through a tube into the stomach or small intestine, or nutrients given into a vein. These are decisions made with your oncology team.
Questions to ask your doctor
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Plain-language explanation of the published sources cited on this page. AI-assisted, source-checked, not clinician-reviewed.
Written by: Cancer ExplainedSources last checked: 2026-10-16 what this meansLast updated: 2026-10-16Next planned review: 2028-09-03
Review details and limits
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status — Source checked. This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
General education. Low-risk educational or organizational content. Medical facts are cited to authoritative sources.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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