Eating sugary food and caffeine

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Good morning, I am on a new cycle of chemotherapy and immunotherapy over 18 weeks every 3 weeks for persistent cervical cancer. My team said to eat what I want and add more butter, have sugary foods if I want to like cookies, cakes, doughnuts. In some places I have read that sugary foods can make cancer symptoms or cancer worse so I am a bit confused!  I know that I shouldn’t lose weight but is it ok to eat sugary foods?
I do have veg etc as well and think my diet is pretty balanced. 

I was also wondering if I should be drinking decaffeinated tea to reduce my caffeine intake. 

Thank you. 

  • Dear Purple girl,

    Thank you for getting in touch with us and welcome to our Online Community. I’m Alison, one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists who work on the support line here at Macmillan.

    I hope your treatment is going well. It’s good that you’re thinking about your diet as nutrition whilst on treatment can be invaluable in keeping you healthy and helping you to recover.

    In general, having a nutritionally balanced diet is the best way to ensure you’re getting all the nutrients you need. This usually doesn’t mean you need to avoid specific food groups. However, as your immune system is affected during chemotherapy and immunotherapy, there are some specific foods you may need to avoid and you can check with your team what these may be.

    In terms of avoiding sugar in your diet, again, it’s more about moderation. Sugar doesn’t cause cancer or make it worse. You can read more about this here. Similarly with caffeine, there’s no evidence to suggest that this would cause you harm, so you can enjoy some tea or coffee in moderation. Cancer Research UK have more information about food myths on their website.

    You might find this information about Eating well during cancer treatment helpful, and if you would like further information or support, Penny Brohn also offer online sessions you might be interested in.

    I hope this is helpful and if you need to ask further questions please don’t hesitate to get back in touch.

    Take care,

     

    Alison,

    Cancer Information Nurse Specialist 

     

    You can also speak with the Macmillan Support Line team of experts. Phone free on 0808 808 0000 (7 days a week, 8am-8pm) or send us an email. 

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