Leiomyosarcoma is a rare type of sarcoma that affects smooth muscle tissue, including the uterus, lungs, small intestines, stomach, liver or skin. After diagnosis, your tumor will be staged to determine treatment, which may include surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. There is no special diet recommended for the treatment of leiomyosarcoma, but making the right food choices can help you maintain weight, lean body mass and support your immune health.
Nutrition Needs
Good nutrition when dealing with leiomyosarcoma and its treatments is important because of how it can affect your health. Your individual needs vary, depending on your weight, current health status and treatments. What's important is to make sure you get adequate amounts of calories and protein to maintain your weight and support your lean body mass. Your doctor can help you determine your specific needs, which are usually higher than if you did not have cancer. The goal for nutrition support is to help you feel better, improve your strength and help you recover faster.
What to Eat
While it's important that you make healthy food choices, it is also important that you make good food choices that help you meet your elevated calorie and protein needs. If you have a poor appetite, you may want to include more calorie-dense foods such as meat, eggs, cheese, starchy vegetables, dried fruits, nuts, seeds and oil. Fruits and vegetables are also an important source of essential cancer-fighting nutrients but are also low in calories.
Managing Side Effects
The treatments for leiomyosarcoma cause a number of different side effects, including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea or constipation and taste changes. If experiencing nausea, you may want to stick to dry, bland foods such as crackers, dry cereal and toast until you feel better. With diarrhea, make sure you're drinking plenty of fluids and avoid milk, which can exacerbate your symptoms. For taste changes, lemon flavoring and spices may improve the flavor of food and your enjoyment.
Weight Loss
Weight loss is a common side effect of both the cancer and its treatment and having a poor appetite does not help. If you are losing weight, you need to take steps to maximize both your calorie and protein intake to help prevent excessive loss. To boost calories and protein, add meat or cheese sauces to vegetables and casseroles and dried milk powder to soup, beverages, yogurt, pudding, casseroles and mashed potatoes. Eating small, frequent meals may also help.
References
- LMSarcoma Direct Research Foundation: What Is Leiomyosarcoma?
- Moffitt Cancer Center: Sarcoma
- American Cancer Society: Nutrition for the Person With Cancer During Treatment
- MedlinePlus; Diet -- Cancer Treatment; Jennifer K. Mannheim
- National Cancer Institute: What You Should Know About Cancer Treatment, Eating Well and Eating Problems
- National Cancer Institute: Nutrition Therapy
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