How This Berry is a “Miracle” for Cancer Patients

During or after cancer treatment, many people experience changes in the way they taste food, particularly bitter, sweet and salty food. Some are rendered bland or tasteless. But the most consequential change that befalls cancer patients is the metallic or chemical taste they experience, especially with high-protein foods.

Unfortunately, at a time when they are trying to keep up with health and immunity issues, cancer patients can find that this taste impairment can lead to food aversion, appetite loss, and weight loss. Management of this symptom has found remarkable help with miracle berries and miracle berry products.

What Causes Taste Changes?

Taste changes in cancer patients can be caused by many things. The drugs used in chemotherapy treatment are frequently the cause of how patients perceive taste, but these aren’t the only culprits. Other medications and therapies associated with cancer treatment have also been found to alter a patient’s sense of taste.

Pain Medications and Antibiotics

Some opioid pain medications such as morphine act on the central nervous system and can change the way a patient perceives food. Antibiotics that may be used in order to treat any infection are also capable of altering taste.

Radiation

Radiations therapy used in the neck and head region can often damage both taste buds and salivary glands. This can cause changes in taste and also smells. Although this can improve after treatments end, salivary glands can be damaged during the course of treatment and the sense of taste may not entirely return.

Other Causes of Taste Changes

Other causes of changes in the way taste is perceived include:

• Surgeries to the mouth, throat, or nose
• Biological therapies
• Subsequent nausea and vomiting
• Mouth dryness
• Damage to taste nerves
• Infections of the mouth
• Gun or dental issues

Hit or Miss Management

Managing taste issues has been hit or miss for most cancer patients. Cancer patients have been advised to do things from eating their foods frozen to using plastic utensils instead of metal with spotty results. That is why the application of the miracle berry truly became a miracle for many patients.

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Helping Cancer Patients Tolerate Food Once Again

This tiny berry, known as synsepalum dulcificum, grows on a small bush and is native to West Africa. These indigenous people have used miracle fruit for centuries due to its taste-enhancing attributes. By binding to taste receptors on the tongue, they enable the flavors of food eaten within one hour of the berry to be enhanced. Because of this, many cancer patients are now able to tolerate the taste of food again.

Because the miracle fruit is highly perishable, it is now available in frozen form and even as miracle berry tablets that can be easily melted in the mouth. Many patients have found the miracle berry in its various forms a life-saver. They can now tolerate the smell and taste of food again, enabling them to get the fundamental nutrients needed for healing.

If you have questions about miracle berries or products, contact us at MiraBurst® on our website and we would be happy to help.