Nutrition Unlocked · Nestlé Health Science

8. Nutrition and Cancer

·23 min·1 clip

“If we’d screened for malnutrition, we would have picked them up.”

1. Nutrition Unlocked episode 8 focuses on nutrition and cancer, with World Cancer Day and the theme “Close the Care Gap” mentioned by Cal Han. 2. Host Cal Han interviews Dr. Liz Eisenring, an advanced accredited dietitian, CEO of Link Nutrition, and professor of nutrition dietetics at Bond University in Australia. 3. The episode asks what nutrition does across diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and prevention in the cancer journey. 4. Liz says her first clinical job was in a hospital supporting people with cancer in the cancer wards and stem cell transplant ward. 5. She says doctors asked her to “show me the evidence,” which pushed her toward research after she found “huge gaps” in the literature. 6. Liz says nutrition first became important to her during chemotherapy and radiotherapy support, where some patients ate better and seemed to have better outcomes. 7. She says care was highly dependent on whether a specialist thought nutrition mattered, so access to dietetic support was uneven. 8. Liz describes “horror stories” of patients who arrived months into their cancer journey already malnourished because no one screened for malnutrition. 9. She says nutrition now matters at every step, including prevention, not just during treatment. 10. Liz says international evidence-based guidelines support nutrition as standard of care for some very high-risk cancer groups. 11. She says the main barrier is siloed care among surgeons, chemo doctors, radiation doctors, gastro specialists, and dietitians. 12. Liz describes touring leading cancer centers in the United States and Canada and noticing miscommunication even in top settings. 13. She says nutrition during treatment can improve quality of life and help people keep doing activities of daily living. 14. Liz explains that cancer care gaps remain larger in rural and remote areas and in some parts of the world. 15. She says personalized medical nutrition therapy is necessary because high protein, low fiber, or other recommendations can differ by tumor type and treatment. 16. Liz warns against “Dr. Google” and says family advice like vinegar cures or one-leg jumping is not evidence-based. 17. She explains that cancer and treatment change energy, protein, fat, and carbohydrate needs, while side effects can make eating harder. 18. Liz names head and neck cancer, stomach and gastro cancer, and pancreatic cancer as higher-risk examples, with tube feeding or liquid diets sometimes needed. 19. The conversation is calm, practical, and interview-based, with Cal Han asking short prompts and Liz answering in direct clinical language. 20. People facing cancer treatment, caregivers, and anyone wanting evidence-based nutrition advice will get the most value from this episode.

As heard by us

Cancer nutrition, explained with care and practical detail.

The episode treats oncology nutrition as a practical clinical problem: how to keep people nourished, what treatment can take away, and how diet may need to shift when eating gets harder. Dr.

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Why you'd press play

You want straight talk on nutrition when cancer treatment changes everything.

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