Eating Ice Cream During Chemotherapy Could Help Some Side Effects

When patients develop oral inflammation from chemotherapy, most experts turn to cryotherapy. However, ice cream might be an easier, more pleasant solution for patients.

By Benjamin Plackett
Oct 20, 2022 1:00 PMOct 20, 2022 1:02 PM
Ice cream
(Credit: Nadir Keklik/Shutterstock)

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The overall death rate from cancer has been declining for more than a decade as methods to diagnose, treat and monitor the disease are improving. Chemotherapy, a medicine used to kill off cancer cells, is a common treatment. As many as 650,000 cancer patients undergo chemotherapy each year in the United States alone.

And although chemotherapy drugs are effective at thwarting cancer, they’re not always a precise tool. Chemotherapy can also damage healthy tissues, causing a myriad of unpleasant side effects. One of which, is oral inflammation. And researchers are looking into solving this uncomfortable problem with a simple, sweet solution.

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