To reduce the metallic or bitter taste in your mouth caused by chemotherapy or radiation therapy, you can use tips such as using only plastic and glass utensils to prepare food, marinating meat in fruit juices and adding aromatic herbs to season food..
This change in taste can happen during or up to 4 weeks after treatment, and it is common for foods to change their taste or become tasteless, in addition to having a bitter or metallic taste in the mouth. This happens mainly after the consumption of red meats, since foods rich in proteins are the ones that have the most change in flavor.
Some tips on what to do to alleviate these problems are:
- Use glass or plastic utensils to prepare food and food, including cutlery, as this helps to reduce the metallic taste in your mouth; Have a small glass of water with drops of lemon or baking soda before meals, to clean the taste buds and take the bad taste out of the mouth; Eat an acidic fruit after meals, such as orange, mandarin or pineapple, but remember to avoid these foods if there are mouth sores; Flavor the water with drops of lemon, cinnamon or a piece of ginger to drink throughout the day; Use aromatic herbs to season foods, such as rosemary, parsley, oregano, onion, garlic, pepper, peppers, thyme, basil and cilantro; Chew unsweetened mint or cinnamon gum to mask the bad taste in your mouth; Marinate meats in acidic fruit juices like lemon and pineapple, vinegar or in sweet wines; Eat less red meat and prefer to consume chicken, fish, eggs and cheese as the main sources of protein, if red meat causes a lot of change in taste; Use sea salt to season the food instead of common salt; Prefer chilled or frozen foods over hot.
In addition, it is necessary to keep your mouth clean and healthy, brushing your teeth and tongue frequently, flossing and avoiding sores and canker sores, it is also important to combat the unpleasant mouth taste caused by bacteria.
Cancer treatment does not always cause a change in the taste of food, but at least half of patients experience this side effect. To mitigate, it is necessary to test these tips and see which ones help in each case, as each person adapts better in a different way. See other side effects of chemotherapy.
Because the taste changes
The bad taste in the mouth due to chemotherapy happens because the treatment causes changes in the taste buds, which are responsible for the sensation of taste. The papillae are renewed every 3 weeks, and as chemotherapy works on cells that reproduce quickly, one of its side effects is reaching the papillae.
In radiotherapy this happens when the treatment is done in the head and neck region, because the radiation ends up also reaching the papillae. After both treatments, the bad taste in the mouth usually subsides in about 3 to 4 weeks, but in some cases it may take longer.
Flavored Water Recipe
The flavored water helps to maintain good hydration and to remove the bitter or metallic taste from the mouth, which can be used throughout the day.
Ingredients:
- 10 fresh mint leaves3 cinnamon sticks3 thin slices of fresh ginger4 slices of lemon, orange or tangerine with the peel1 liter of filtered water
Preparation: Add the ingredients to the water, store in the refrigerator and wait at least 3 hours before drinking, time necessary to flavor and flavor the water.
Orange Marinated Chicken Recipe
Making meat marinated in fruit helps to reduce the metallic or bitter taste in the mouth, so here's how to make a fruit marinade.
Ingredients:
- 500 g of chicken fillet of 1 orange1 tablespoon olive oil3 crushed garlic cloves rosemary to tasty and black pepper to taste
Method of preparation:
Place the chicken fillets in a container and squeeze the orange, add the crushed garlic, olive oil and rosemary. Then mix everything and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes or overnight.
Heat the pan well and then grill the fillets. Brown well on both sides, do not let the chicken stay on the grill for too long because it dries out and is difficult to eat, try to keep it wet, but well done.
See more tips on what to eat to lessen the side effects of chemotherapy.
