What are the dietary taboos for liver cancer?

The only things that liver cancer patients must avoid that have clear medical evidence are moldy food and all alcoholic drinks. The rest of the so-called "taboos" are mostly controversial and need to be flexibly adjusted based on the patient's own disease stage and body reaction. They are not as exaggerated as the dozens or hundreds of things that cannot be eaten posted online.

Eight out of ten liver cancer patients I usually meet in the outpatient clinic ask me if they can't eat chicken, beef, mutton, and seafood as soon as I sit down. Not long ago, an old aunt who had just undergone liver cancer resection came for a review and said that she heard from the patients in the community that they can "eat food". In order to promote the growth of cancer cells, I dared not touch anything except boiled vegetables and white flour steamed buns for half a year. It was found that the albumin was only 28g/L, and my lower limbs were swollen to the point of pressing into a hole. Even the follow-up auxiliary treatment was almost impossible to do on time. It was really not worth the gain.

Let’s talk about the two uncontroversial taboos first. Moldy food is the first, such as old peanuts that have been left out for more than half a year, corn with moldy spots, and nuts that taste bitter when eaten. Even if you dig out the bad parts, the remaining parts may already contain aflatoxin, which is a clear first-level liver cancer carcinogen. The liver is already damaged. Exposure to such substances is just adding insult to injury. Don’t save money, just throw it away if you find it is bad. Not to mention alcohol. Whether it is white wine, beer, red wine, or even fruit wine or self-brewed medicinal wine that is known as "health-preserving", as long as it contains alcohol, it requires liver metabolism. The liver function of liver cancer patients has varying degrees of damage. One sip is an extra burden. In severe cases, it may induce liver failure. It is safest not to touch it at all.

As for the most widely circulated taboo about "fabricating", the current opinions in the industry are actually not unanimous. Western medicine does not have any evidence-based evidence that foods such as beef, mutton, chicken, and seafood can cause tumor progression. On the contrary, the high-quality protein in these foods is an urgent need for liver cancer patients to supplement nutrition and repair the body. As long as there are no allergies, bloating, or indigestion, you can eat in different ways. It is better than eating green vegetables and steamed buns every day and not keeping up with the nutrition. However, some traditional medical opinions believe that if the patient is in the heat-burning stage with severe jaundice, bitter mouth and bad breath, and thick and greasy tongue coating, he can eat less dry food such as dog meat and particularly fatty mutton to avoid aggravating physical discomfort, and there is no need to forcefully eat it.

There are also some taboos that are specific to patients with specific conditions and not everyone must abide by them. For example, patients with liver cirrhosis and esophageal and gastric varicose veins must really control their mouths when eating particularly hard, angular, and fried foods. Last year, a patient couldn't help but eat two bites of fried crispy meat, which cut the varicose blood vessels and vomited half a basin of blood. He was sent to the emergency room for a long time to stabilize himself, and suffered a serious crime. If you have signs of hepatic encephalopathy, such as those who are often confused, cannot remember things, and cannot even recognize family members, you should not take too much high-protein food at once. You must follow the doctor's advice to control the intake, otherwise it will easily induce coma, which will be a bad thing.

In fact, to put it bluntly, liver cancer patients don’t need to be so strict on their diet. Except for the two red lines that must not be touched, the rest should be comfortable to eat, digestible, and nutritious. They don’t dare to eat anything regardless of wind or rain. After all, good nutritional status is the basis for fighting the disease.