[ARTIKEL] 18 Feb 2021
Cancer Data According to the World Health Organization (WHO)
Cancer is a disease that is still a health problem in various parts of the world, including in Indonesia. Cancer does not only affect adults, but also children. Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that every year there are 300,000 children aged 0-19 years who are diagnosed with cancer, while in Indonesia based on data from the 2013 Basic Health Research (RISKESDAS) around 16,000 cases of children aged 0-14 years are diagnosed with cancer every year. About 50% of childhood cancer patients come to health facilities at an advanced stage, and one of the factors is the lack of parental knowledge about childhood cancer. In fact, if detected early, many cancers in children can be cured with proper treatment.
Cancer in children is different from adults, because the emergence of cancer cannot be prevented and it is not known exactly why it can then appear in certain children, however, a healthy lifestyle still needs to be taught to children, because it will be useful to prevent the emergence of chronic diseases including cancer at the time. they are adults.
The most common types of cancer in children are: 1. Leukemia, 2. Retinoblastoma and 3. Osteosarcoma. If detected early, the response to treatment is quite good, even some types of leukemia can be cured after receiving chemotherapy. One that supports healing in the cancer therapy process is proper nutritional support.
One of the obstacles in cancer patients is the high need for substances, but patients often lose their appetite because of their condition. In children, the nutritional needs are higher per kg of body weight, because children need the nutrients needed to grow. Another thing that must be considered in cancer patients is the selection of foods that are sought not to accelerate the growth of cancer cells but can support health and therapy as well as support growth in children.
The composition of food should be changed so that cancer cells do not grow faster because of the wrong way of feeding. The trick is to increase fat intake and decrease carbohydrate intake. This is necessary so that the energy formed can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. By increasing fat intake, the energy source formed will produce more free radicals which will inhibit cell growth. In addition, increased fat intake will also support the needs of the body and the growth of children.
Fat intake can come from animal and vegetable fats. Animal fat intake from animal meat (beef, goat, chicken and fish) is very good because it is needed for the supply of essential amino acids for the health and growth of children. Intake of vegetable fats can come from nuts and oils such as corn oil, peanut oil and coconut oil.
Coconut oil is one of the best oils to use in pediatric cancer patients, because it contains high energy and also contains short and medium chain fatty acids ( lauric acid) which will be easily converted into energy (ATP) and ketone bodies in the blood. The metabolites produced from lauric acid are a good source of energy for cells, but are not favored by cancer cells, on the other hand if the food intake contains a lot of carbohydrates which then become glucose, it will actually increase the growth of cancer cells because glucose is the main energy source for cells. -cancer cells.
So for children with cancer, reduce carbohydrate consumption to less than 20% and increase fat consumption by more than 50% by adding coconut oil as part of the daily diet. Several studies have shown that giving a high-fat diet is proven to be well tolerated by patients, maintain muscle mass, reduce chemotherapy complications and improve the quality of life of cancer patients. Thus the article the importance of nutritional support for childhood cancer, Hopefully Moms will understand more about the importance nutritional support for children.