Common Dietary Therapies For Pleural And Ascitic Fluid In Cancer Patients

What are pleural and ascitic fluid in cancer patients? What role can dietary therapy play?

Pleural and ascitic fluid in cancer patients are accumulations of fluid in the pleural and abdominal cavities caused by cancer; they are common complications of late-stage cancer. They seriously impair patients' quality of life and can also cause secondary infections, leading to death from severe infectious disease. Managing pleural and ascitic fluid well can prolong survival.

Treatment of pleural and ascitic fluid in cancer patients should mainly target the underlying condition; to treat the root, one must control the cancer cells. But dietary therapy can also relieve the symptoms of pleural and ascitic fluid, and some patients with milder cases can even rely on diet to eliminate it completely. This article introduces some foods with good effects on pleural and ascitic fluid in cancer patients.

1. The champion food for reducing pleural and ascitic fluid—radish

Chinese proverbs say things like "When radishes come on the market, doctors have nothing to do," "When radishes enter the city, doctors close their doors," and "Eat radish in winter and ginger in summer, and you won't need the doctor's prescription." This shows how highly the medicinal value of radish is regarded. Radish is the cheapest and most readily available food; both green radish and white radish are excellent diuretic foods. When a cancer patient develops pleural or ascitic fluid, the most important thing in the hospital—apart from anti-cancer treatment—is diuretic therapy. But from my own observation, neither Chinese nor Western diuretics work as well as radish.

The key to using radish for pleural and ascitic fluid is to eat a large amount. Several jin of radish can be stewed together into a thick soup—the thicker the better—and given to the patient to drink as tea. Radish can also be juiced for the patient; juicing is more potent, but many patients' stomachs cannot tolerate it. Radish can also be stewed with fish heads or crucian carp into a delicious soup.

Radish works equally well for promoting urination and bowel movement. If radish is out of season, dried radish strips can be used instead of fresh, with the same effect. If dried strips cannot be found, one can go to the pharmacy and buy laifuzi (radish seeds) to make soup; for treating pleural and ascitic fluid, the dose of radish seeds should be large, up to 100 g.

By the way, TCM often says that radish neutralizes medicinal effects; this is mainly because radish is so diuretic that medicines are expelled through urine and stool not long after being taken. In fact radish does not neutralize medicinal effects—this is a misreading. Proverbs also say that radish and renshen (ginseng) should not be used together, again mainly because radish's diuretic effect is so strong that the ginseng is expelled, wasting this precious herb. In practice, when ginseng is the main herb, one should appropriately avoid radish. But when the main treatment goal is radish diuresis, one can consider simultaneously using ginseng to supplement the patient's original qi.

2. The runner-up food for reducing pleural and ascitic fluid—hugua (bottle gourd)

Hugua is also a common vegetable, a plant of the gourd family, mostly on the market in summer. Its diuretic effect is second only to radish, and it can even rival radish. Eating fresh hugua stir-fried can markedly increase urine output in patients with pleural and ascitic fluid. Hugua mainly promotes urination, clears heat, quenches thirst and relieves vexation. It treats edema and abdominal distension, vexed heat and thirst, and sores and toxins.

Qianjin Shizhi (Essential Prescriptions for Eating) records that hugua treats "xiaoke (wasting-thirst) and malignant sores, and rotten painful flesh in the nose and mouth." Tang Bencao records that it "frees the waterways, quenches thirst and clears heat." Shiwu Bencao records that it "mainly benefits the large intestine and moistens the skin."

3. The third-place food for reducing pleural and ascitic fluid—wax gourd (donggua)

Wax gourd peel is a common diuretic Chinese medicine sold in herbal shops. The diuretic effect of the whole wax gourd is no worse than that of its peel; when using wax gourd for pleural and ascitic fluid, stew the whole gourd with the peel on, adding kelp (kelp softens hardness and dissipates nodules and is also a commonly used anti-cancer herb) and pork ribs. The taste is delicious and the diuretic effect excellent.

4. A common food that both reduces pleural/ascitic fluid and fights cancer—coix seed (yiyiren)

Coix seed (Job's tears) is a commonly used herb that fortifies the spleen and drains dampness; it is also an anti-cancer food highly recommended by the great TCM master He Ren. Modern pharmacological research has found that coix seed oil purified from coix has a marked inhibitory effect on tumor growth. The main ingredient of the commonly used anti-cancer patent medicine Kanglaite is coix seed oil extracted from coix.

Coix seed is highly nutritious, hailed as the "king of the world's grasses." In Europe it is called the "grain of life and health," and in Japan it is classified as a cancer-preventing and anti-cancer food.

Coix seed contains all 8 essential amino acids for the human body, in proportions very close to human needs. Measured per 100 g of coix seed, it contains about 9.4 g protein, 2.7 g fat, 66.5 g carbohydrates, 0.33 mg vitamin B1, 0.13 mg vitamin B2, 7.9 mg niacin, 0.22 mg vitamin E, 4.9 g dietary fiber, and various minerals including phosphorus, iron, calcium, zinc and potassium. In addition, coix seed contains 7.2% oils, of which polyunsaturated fatty acids account for 85%.

Coix seed is the seed of an annual grass. TCM holds that it is neutral in nature and sweet in taste, and has the functions of promoting urination and reducing swelling, fortifying the spleen and dispelling dampness, and clearing heat and draining pus. Modern pharmacological research shows that coix seed has anti-tumor, blood-sugar-lowering, anti-inflammatory and analgesic, immunity-enhancing, blood-lipid-regulating and anti-osteoporosis effects, making it a widely used medicinal and edible health food.

The anti-cancer and anti-tumor active components in coix seed mainly include palmitic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid. Its anti-cancer mechanism is to inhibit the progression of cancer by altering the mechanism of apoptosis. Studies have found that coix seed extract can inhibit the expression of colon cancer proteins, and its rich dietary fiber also helps prevent colon cancer. Over a thousand years ago, in the Han dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing used Fuzi Baijiang Cao Yiyi Ren Tang (Aconite, Patrinia and Coix Decoction) to treat intestinal abscess (severe colitis and benign and malignant intestinal tumors), with coix seed as the main herb.

Coix seed has a good diuretic and anti-swelling effect; among diuretic herbs it is mild in nature and the most universally applicable. At the same time it has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects and reduces swelling and dissipates nodules; in oncology it is one of the most frequently eaten anti-cancer herbs. In addition, coix seed has cosmetic, weight-loss and anti-hair-loss effects.5. A food that both reduces pleural/ascitic fluid and tonifies the kidneys—black soybean

Black soybean is the black seed of the soybean (Glycine max); in folk it is often called small black bean or makedou, and has the fine name of "king of beans." It prevents aging and anti-oxidizes, and has both high food value and high medicinal value. It is a common kidney-tonifying herb; TCM holds that black color enters the kidneys, so it is often used for patients with liver and kidney deficiency. The trace element iron in black beans can relieve patients' anemia. Processed black bean products such as soybean sprout, fermented black bean and black bean skin are also common Chinese medicines.

Black beans have a good effect on pleural and ascitic fluid patients of the liver-kidney deficiency type, but bean products easily cause flatulence. If a cancer patient with pleural and ascitic fluid already has abdominal gas, use black beans cautiously. In late-stage hepatic ascites, black beans should be used with caution.

6. A food that both reduces pleural/ascitic fluid and strengthens the spleen and stomach—pumpkin

Pumpkin is a plant of the genus Cucurbita in the gourd family, an annual trailing herb. Its stem can reach several meters long, rooting at the nodes; it is stout, ridged and furrowed, covered with short stiff hairs, with tendrils branched into 3–4. The single leaves are alternate, heart-shaped or broadly ovate, shallowly 5-lobed with 5 angles, rather soft, 15–30 cm long, densely fuzzy on both sides, often with white spots along the margin and on the surface, and irregularly serrate at the edge. The flowers are solitary, monoecious.

Pumpkin is very nutritious, containing starch, plant protein, beta-carotene, B vitamins, vitamin C, calcium and phosphorus. Pumpkin is also a medicinal food. According to Diannan Bencao, pumpkin is warm in nature, sweet and non-toxic, enters the spleen and stomach channels, can moisten the lungs and boost qi, resolve phlegm and drain pus, expel worms and resolve toxin, treat cough and stop wheezing, heal lung abscess and constipation, and has diuretic and cosmetic effects. In recent years, medical experts at home and abroad have found that eating pumpkin regularly also treats prostatic hypertrophy (pumpkin seeds treat it), prevents prostate cancer, helps prevent arteriosclerosis and gastric mucosal ulcers, treats diabetes, and dissolves stones. It can be used as adjunctive treatment for qi deficiency and fatigue, intercostal neuralgia, malaria, dysentery, opium poisoning, ascariasis, bronchial asthma and diabetes.

Pumpkin's main benefit for pleural and ascitic fluid patients lies in promoting urination and bowel movement, protecting the gastrointestinal mucosa of cancer patients, and helping liver and kidney function recover. Pumpkin can markedly promote bile secretion, protect against irritation from rough food, strengthen gastrointestinal peristalsis, aid digestion, and promote gastric emptying. The lipids in pumpkin seeds have good therapeutic and preventive effects on urinary system diseases and prostatic hyperplasia.

For late-stage cancer patients with poor digestion, a bowl of pumpkin porridge is both sweet and palatable and can relieve abdominal distension and pleural/ascitic fluid—it is a very good choice.