Mayo Clinic Health Manager

Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.

Get Started

Free

E-Newsletter

Subscribe to receive the latest updates on health topics. About our newsletters

  • Housecall
  • Alzheimer's caregiving
  • Living with cancer

Eating during cancer treatment: Tips to make food tastier

Eating well may help you feel better during cancer treatment, and it may make it easier to tolerate your treatments.

By Mayo Clinic staff

You may find that cancer or cancer treatment has affected your sense of taste. Food may seem to lack flavor or taste too sweet, salty or metallic. Usually these changes are temporary and will improve with time. In the meantime, do what you can to maintain your calorie intake and meet your body's protein, vitamin and mineral needs.

If you normally follow a specific diet, such as one that's low in sodium or fat or designed for people with diabetes, it may be necessary to put those restrictions aside for a while. You'll want to allow for more variety so that you can increase your chances of getting adequate nutrition. Check with your doctor to make sure it's all right to loosen your dietary restrictions.

Here are some suggestions for selecting and preparing foods. Experiment with these ideas until you find combinations that appeal to you.

Note: If your mouth or throat is sore, avoid spices, acidic foods, and hot foods or beverages, which may be irritating.

If food lacks flavor

Try different sauces, marinades, seasonings and other ingredients. These can help perk up the taste of food.

While cooking, add:

  • Barbecue sauce
  • Extracts or other flavorings
  • Ketchup
  • Meat marinades
  • Mustards
  • Salad dressings
  • Soy sauce
  • Spices and herbs
  • Teriyaki sauce
  • Vinegar
  • Wine

Other suggestions to add flavor include:

  • Bacon bits
  • Chopped green pepper
  • Chopped onion
  • Ham strips
  • Nuts
  • Cheese, especially sharp cheese, such as sharp Cheddar

Try:

  • Extra sugar or syrup on your food. On your cereal, try brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, cinnamon, dates or raisins instead of white sugar.
  • Extra salt. In addition, salty foods such as cured meats, cheeses and snack chips may have more taste.

If food tastes too sweet

Tone down overly sweet foods by:

  • Adding a little salt or lemon juice
  • Adding plain yogurt, buttermilk, instant coffee powder or extra milk to your milkshakes, instant beverage mixes or commercially prepared nutritional drinks

Try foods that are less sweet:

  • Drink beverages such as diluted fruit juice, milk, buttermilk, lemonade, ginger ale or sports drinks.
  • Choose less-sweet-tasting desserts such as yogurt, custard, pumpkin pie, fruit or fruit with cottage cheese, plain doughnuts, or graham crackers.

In place of sweet snacks, choose other foods:

  • Cheese
  • Chips or pretzels
  • Cottage cheese
  • Crackers
  • Deviled eggs
  • Nuts
  • Peanut butter
  • Sandwich spreads

If syrup, jam or sugar tastes too sweet, try butter or margarine on cooked cereal, toast and pancakes.

Next page
(1 of 2)

HQ01135

June 14, 2008

© 1998-2009 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). All rights reserved. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.com," "EmbodyHealth," "Reliable tools for healthier lives," "Enhance your life," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research.

Print Share Reprints

Text Size: smaller largerlarger