Chemotherapy can obliterate the healthy, “good” bacteria (microbiota) that live in the human gut. The microbes in our gut help digest our food and keep our gut healthy. Chemotherapy negatively impacts our gastrointestinal health by altering and often killing our gut microbiota as it cannot differentiate between the bad cancer cells and our important gut microbes.
This damage is referred to as “chemo gut” or “chemo belly” and causes bloating, gas, as well as pain in the abdomen. Adding probiotics to your diet can help ease these side effects and heal our gut microbiota. Before adding probiotics to your diet, check with your oncologist to make sure it’s okay with them. My oncologist was okay with me adding probiotic food and drinks to my diet, but wanted me to wait to take probiotic pills until after all my chemotherapy sessions were finished. It took several days (~6 days) for the bloating and pain in my abdomen to subside, but adding probiotics to my diet dramatically eased my discomfort.
Probiotic Food & Drinks:
- Saurekraut
- Kimchi
- Miso
- Tempeh
- Kefir drinks (dairy)
- Chobani probiotic drinks & yogurt (plant-based)
- Forager probiotic drinks (plant-based)
So if you are experiencing pain and/or bloating in your abdomen during chemotherapy, you definitely need to ask your oncologist about adding probiotics to your diet.
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