Fighting Cancer, Fighting Hunger: The Overlooked Nutrition Struggles in Treatment Centers

I remember walking around the chemo lab at the cancer institute where I volunteered, passing around lunch at around 11am, only to come across an older couple who didn’t seem happy with their options. One of them, drained from chemotherapy, sighed in frustration. ‘I can’t eat half of this,’ they muttered, gesturing toward their meal. ‘What’s the point of having a dietitian if the food never matches?’

To give you an image of what was offered to each patient, I’ll try to record them off memory:

• Tuna sandwich

• Veggie sandwich

• Egg sandwich

• Ham and cheese sandwich

• Turkey sandwich

• Saltine or graham crackers

• Different fruit yogurts

• School-sized juices and water bottles

…and a few other small snacks that are off the menu but if the patient knows it exists, they can sure ask for it!

The menu was such a small one. This problem wasn’t universal across the hospital. When I later volunteered in the bone marrow transplant unit, I noticed a stark contrast—the menus were more diverse, offering options tailored to patient needs.

But the issue still persists. If dietitians and nutritionists create treatment-based dietary plans, why doesn’t the hospital’s food reflect them? Cancer patients often suffer from nausea, taste changes, and weakened immune systems—yet their meals remain one-size-fits-all.

This is what really needs to change. “Fun carts” rolled almost every morning in multiple units in the cancer institute. Each morning, volunteers rolled out the ‘fun cart,’ stocked with makeup, accessories, and small activities to brighten patients’ days. But one section always remained untouched: the candy. While it was meant to be a treat, many patients couldn’t eat it due to their dietary restrictions. It was a well-intentioned but impractical offering. 

Why are we focused so much on snacks and candy over food that will help them build energy during their treatments that sometimes take hours? It came to my realization that this decision lied in the hands of the finance and administration department—not so much the food one. 

Rewinding back to the old couple…I brought up their issue to my Volunteer Director. She didn’t seem surprised but rather upset. She knew this issue was prevalent but it was out of her hands and out of the hands of the nutrition department too. The funds weren’t there to change things around. 

Food services in hospitals are often restricted by budget constraints, with cheaper, mass-produced meals taking precedence over customized dietary plans. Despite dietitians advocating for better options, the decisions came down to finance and administration, where food quality wasn’t always the top priority.

So where does that leave us? While funding constraints won’t change overnight, awareness is the first step. Hospitals could allocate existing resources more efficiently, swapping out impractical snacks for nutrient-rich options. Volunteers and advocacy groups could push for small but meaningful menu adjustments. If we acknowledge the problem, we’re already one step closer to fixing it.