Proper Nutrition Can Increase the Chance of Living for Cancer Patients – VOI.id

You must confirm your age to access this page.
Share:
JAKARTA – Cancer patients not only need treatment but also adequate nutritional intake to keep the body in optimal condition. Proper eating patterns are one of the important factors in supporting the success of cancer therapy.
In this case, the nutritional needs of cancer patients are generally higher than healthy people because the body must face inflammation, side effects of treatment, and the risk of weight loss and muscle mass.
Clinical Nutrition Specialist Dr. Fiastuti Witjaksono, Sp.GK (K) said that proper nutritional therapy not only helps maintain the patient’s body condition, but also contributes to improving the quality of life and life expectancy of cancer patients.
He explained that the need for proper nutrition needs to be intervened in both when it is first diagnosed and during treatment. Various studies also show that nutritional interventions can provide significant benefits.
“The benefits of proper nutritional fulfillment range from reducing mortality, improving survival, nutritional status, physical function, to treatment tolerance,” said Dr. Fiastuti during a symposium entitled ‘Supportive Care in Cancer’ at the Siloam Oncology Summit 2026 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta, recently.
According to Dr. Fiastuti, cancer patients need a more specific approach to nutrition, including energy, protein, fat, vitamin, and additional nutrients such as omega-3 and whey protein.
In one of the meta-analyses presented, cancer patients who received nutritional interventions showed increased weight, better quality of life, and higher survival rates compared to patients who did not receive optimal nutritional support.
Therefore, nutritional management should be part of cancer therapy from the beginning and go hand in hand with the main treatment, not just when the patient’s condition has worsened.
Furthermore, Dr. Fiastuti explained that cancer patients are very vulnerable to weight loss and loss of muscle mass or a condition known as cachexia. This condition can be triggered by inflammation due to cancer, side effects of therapy such as chemotherapy, to reduced appetite due to nausea and psychological disorders.
“Normal people only need about 0.8 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. But unlike cancer patients, they need about 1.2 to 1.5 grams, even up to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day,” he explained.
He also emphasized the importance of consuming animal protein during cancer therapy. Animal protein is considered to have a more complete amino acid profile so that it is more effective in helping to maintain and build muscle mass.
“During therapy, patients are encouraged to get about 65 percent of their protein from animal protein,” he said.
In addition to protein, carbohydrate and fat needs must also be met to ensure that the body has enough energy to undergo the treatment process.
According to Dr. Fiastuti, adequate nutritional intake can help improve the quality of life of patients, improve tolerance to therapy, and support better survival rates.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
Tag: kanker pasien kanker pola makan
© 2026 VOI – Waktunya Merevolusi Pemberitaan

source