Maintaining your nutrition is an important part of cancer treatment, recovery, and prevention. Good nutrition helps the body heal, fight infections, and maintain overall health. The Tufts Medical Center Cancer Center in Boston offers nutrition consultation services from the registered dietitians of Frances Stern Nutrition Center. The dietitians can help you make informed choices about your nutrition, answer your nutrition-related questions, and help you cope with diet and appetite issues related to cancer and cancer treatment.
Questions and topics that our dietitian can help you with:
- General guidance on balanced nutrition
- Nutrition guidelines for specific cancers
- Treatment issues such as chemotherapy or radiation
- Nausea and appetite problems
- Difficulty swallowing or eating
- Problems with diarrhea or constipation
- Supplements
- Weight management
When does a patient need the dietitian?
- Loss of appetite
- Significant unintentional weight loss ( >5% in 1 month or >10% in 6 months)
- Uncontrolled nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Significant difficulty with swallowing or chewing
- Severe taste changes or dry mouth
- Abdominal pain/discomfort, indigestion, gas, constipation
- Preparation for or recovery from major surgeries to head/neck, esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, or abdomen
- Enteral nutrition or feeding tube
- Parenteral nutrition/TPN
The Tufts MC Cancer Center offers nutrition counseling for individuals concerned about maintaining nutrition before, during, and after cancer treatment. We encourage you to speak with your practitioner today to schedule a nutrition consultation.
Please be advised that insurance coverage varies greatly depending on individual policies and medical diagnoses. Be sure to check with your insurance company prior to your nutrition appointment to determine if nutrition is a covered benefit. Please keep in mind that a referral from a health care practitioner is necessary to make an appointment.
Cancer Nutrition Care Team
The registered dietitians from Frances Stern Nutrition Center provide medical nutrition therapy to cancer patients before, during, and after treatment. This includes nutrition screening and assessment, identification of nutrition-related treatment complications, appropriate nutrition interventions, and continuing monitoring and reassessment.
The registered dietitians can assist patients with planning an optimal diet during any stage of the cancer journey. They can answer questions about the latest findings on cancer and nutrition and offer open-minded advice on vitamin and supplements you may consider integrating into your diet.
