Eating during cancer treatment: Tips to make food tastier

You may find that cancer or cancer treatment has changed your sense of taste or smell. Foods may seem to lack flavor or taste too sweet, too salty, or bitter or metallic. Often these changes are temporary and may improve with time. Sometimes the changes last a long time.

There are things you can try to help make food taste and smell better. This article contains suggestions for selecting and preparing foods. Use these tips to experiment with different flavor combinations to find what appeals to you.

If your usual foods seem to lack flavor, these suggestions can help perk up the taste and smell of food.

• Try sauces and marinades. You might use barbecue sauce, ketchup, mustard, soy sauce or teriyaki sauce. Add vinegar, marinades, spices or herbs.
• Add flavor by topping food with bacon bits, chopped hot or mild peppers, chopped onions, ham strips, nuts, or cheese.
• If your diet permits, add extra sugar or syrup to your food. Instead of using white sugar, add something that has more flavor. This might include brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, cinnamon, dates or raisins.
• If your diet permits, add salt to food or eat foods that are salty. This might include cured meats, cheese spreads and snack chips.
• Try tart foods, such as oranges, lemonade, lemon pudding, sherbet or pickled foods.

If some foods taste too sweet, use these suggestions to tone down the sweetness.

• Add a little salt or lemon juice.
• Add plain yogurt, buttermilk, instant coffee powder or extra milk to milkshakes, instant beverage mixes or commercially prepared nutritional drinks.
• Add nuts or fresh fruit to ice cream.
• Add butter, margarine, peanut butter or other nut butter to cooked cereal, toast and pancakes if syrup, jam or sugar taste too sweet.

Try foods that are less sweet:

• Drink beverages such as diluted fruit juice, milk, buttermilk, lemonade, ginger ale or sports drinks.
• Choose desserts and snacks that aren't as sweet, such as yogurt, custard, pumpkin pie, fruit, baked fruit, fruit with cottage cheese, fruit crumble, plain doughnuts or graham crackers.
• In place of sweet snacks, choose tart, salty or spicy snacks. These might include cottage cheese, cheese, peanut butter, deviled eggs, crackers, chips, nuts or fruit.

If you find food tastes too salty, adding a little sugar may tone down the saltiness, if your diet allows it. Cook foods without adding salt or seasonings containing salt. Try bland or mild-flavored foods.

If certain meats don't taste good, even if they are fresh and cooked properly, try other sources of protein instead.

• Beans
• Cheese and other dairy products.
• Eggs.
• Nuts and nut butters.
• Other meat, such as fish and poultry.
• Peas.
• Seeds.
• Tofu.

Other ways to make meat taste better include:

• Try meat prepared in combination with other foods, such as chili, lasagna, spaghetti sauce, casserole, stew and hearty soups.
• Try sauces, ketchup and other seasonings, which may improve the flavor.
• Try marinating meats, such as chicken or fish in soy sauce, sweet fruit juices, wine or Italian dressing.
• Try high protein foods that may taste better cold or at room temperature. Examples include cheese or cottage cheese plates; macaroni salads with shrimp, ham or cheese; tuna, egg, ham or chicken salad; cold meat or luncheon meat sandwiches; or cold salmon.

These suggestions also may help improve the taste and smell of food.

• To remove a bad taste in your mouth, drink liquids often or use gum, mints or hard candies.
• If water doesn't taste right, add lemon, lime or cucumber slices to add flavor. You also can use a water flavor packet, water flavor liquid or fruit infuser. Try drinking out of a glass instead of plastic or metal.
• To reduce a bitter or metallic taste, use plastic utensils to eat.
• If smells bother you, try foods that are cool or at room temperature. Hot foods have stronger odor than cold foods. Turn on kitchen fans and cover foods while cooking.
• See a dentist to make sure tooth or mouth conditions aren't causing taste or smell changes. Keep your mouth clean. Ask your healthcare team about what you can do to care for your mouth.
• Check with your healthcare professional to see if your taste changes could be related to your medicines. Do not stop taking medicines unless directed by your healthcare professional.

If these measures don't help or if you're losing weight, talk with your healthcare professional or a registered dietitian.