Childhood Cancer

Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.

— Hippocrates

NOW, MORE THAN EVER, it is important for your sick child to eat balanced, healthful, and energy-packed meals. Yet, the reality is that the eating habits of children with brain or spinal cord tumors go haywire. Although, your child’s body needs added energy to metabolize medications and repair the damage to healthy cells caused by chemotherapy and radiation, those same treatments can wreak havoc on your child’s appetite and taste sensations. This chapter discusses eating problems, explains good nutrition, suggests ways to pack extra calories into small servings, and offers tips about how to make food more appealing to children undergoing treatment.