Navigating the Difficulties of Nutrition During Cancer Care as a Nurse

Claudia Aguilar Clancy, RN, FNP-C, stated that addressing the nutritional needs of patients with various types of cancer can be difficult because it depends on several things such as where the tumor developed and if the patient requires a feeding tube.

During a conversation with CancerNetwork® at the 2025 Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) Congress, Clancy, a nurse practitioner at Texas Oncology, discussed the complexities of helping patients meet their dietary and nutritional needs during cancer care. For those that have to use a feeding tube, soft foods and pureed foods are commonly used; Clancy stated that there is a big list of high-protein and soft food options she shows her patients so they get “the best fuel possible.”

Additionally, the type of treatment that a patient receives also factors into what they can and cannot eat. If a patient receives radiation therapy directed at the gastrointestinal tract, Clancy will not serve that patient foods with high amounts of fiber because it may lead to more diarrhea or nausea.

The goal is not only to supply food that mitigates adverse effects (AEs) but also provide a patient with the strength to get through their treatments.

Transcript:

I love my head and neck population. They are challenging, and they’re unique because it depends on where the tumor starts, and it depends on where the feeding tube is going to go. Is it going to be in the stomach? Is it going to be in the jejunum—[also known as] the J tube. If they can eat some [food], normally, we assess, “Okay, do they have a feeding tube? Can they eat orally?” If they cannot, then that’s when the formulas are obtained, and [they get] soft foods and pureed foods. I give them a big list of all those [items] that are high protein but soft. They’re getting the best fuel possible.

Then we have our patients who don’t have a feeding tube, and those patients can eat. During radiation, depending on where the radiation is, if it’s a [gastrointestinal] tract radiation location, then we have to think about lower fiber [foods], even though fiber is good, but at that particular time, it can cause more diarrhea and more of those [AEs] that we don’t want them to have. It could also cause a little bit more nausea and things like that.

We have to see what the diagnosis is to tailor the nutrition part of it so that they can be successful, and have low [AEs] because of food, but then also have food that is going to help them get through the radiation. Food is powerful, and they need fuel. It’s a challenge because, at that time, they don’t want to eat, but they have to eat.