Cancer treatment needs good nutrition as well as drugs, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and there are many misconceptions about whether patients should eat rice. The subject was discussed at the International Clinical Nutrition Update 2026, organised by Peerless Hospital in Kolkata, Sangbad Pratidin reports.

Consultant oncologist Dr Rajib Bhattacharya said the body needs enough strength to cope with surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, and a malnourished, weakened patient faces repeated interruptions to treatment. "Unless medicine and diet are both right, the patient's treatment cannot be complete," he said.

On rice, he said there is no fixed rule that a cancer patient must switch from rice to chapati or the other way round; patients can keep whatever they are used to and digest easily, because they need enough calories even when appetite falls. Rice suits those who get gastritis from chapati, and brown rice can replace white, but there is no reason to think any particular rice, black rice included, is especially good against cancer.

Dr Madhuchhanda Kar, clinical director of oncology, said there are many myths about rice; what matters is a measured, balanced diet. Experts warned that 12- or 18-hour fasts or one-meal-a-day diets seen on social media for weight loss can be dangerous for cancer patients, and that a diet should be drawn up with a dietitian according to age, condition, cancer type and treatment.

To avoid infection during treatment, Dr Bhattacharya advised home-cooked, easily digested food with little oil and spice instead of food from outside. Tata Memorial Hospital chief dietitian Shivshankar Timmanpyati and Parimala Devi Kumaraswamy of Coimbatore were among other speakers on food and side effects in cancer care. The meeting's platinum partner was a rice brand.

Photo: Sangbad Pratidin

Source: Sangbad Pratidin