Congratulations to you, your son, and your entire family on getting through this very difficult diagnosis and treatment!
Improving Taste Buds
Regarding your son's sense of taste, it is possible that he is regaining an interest in certain flavors because his taste buds are healing, even 5 years after his treatment. However, I think it is more likely that some of the food aversions he developed due to treatment are becoming less strong over time
Taste Aversions
When some people go through cancer treatment, they develop physical aversions and dislikes to certain foods because these foods really do taste bad to them. Damage to the taste buds and gastrointestinal tract make some foods taste terrible to some people during treatment.
When a person who is in cancer treatment tastes a food they normally like and find that the food tastes terrible, they may develop a psychological aversion to that food as well. The original trigger for this aversion is physical - the food tastes bad. But the memory of that horrible taste can linger long after their taste buds have healed, long after when that food should start to taste normal again.
This is not to say that a taste aversion isn't real. It absolutely is real! Even if the issue is the memory of the taste more than how the food tastes now, the mind is telling the body that it does not want this food. This is something that can be a problem for many people who have been treated for cancer.
So, it may be that for your son, some of those aversions to food are beginning to lessen over time. The further out he gets from treatment, the more those memories of how bad food tasted will fade. This may make him more willing to try some of these foods again.
Working with Likes and Dislikes
It's also important to remember that for some people, some taste changes are permanent. This is not to say that you son can't enjoy food again, he absolutely can! But it's important that nobody tries to force him to eat things he just doesn't want. Forcing the issue is counterproductive. Instead, continue to offer your son a wide variety of healthy foods and let him pick what he wants.
Many people find that they have trouble getting kids to eat healthy food. Children always reach for chips and cookies rather than fruit and veggies. The solution to this is to avoid providing the unhealthy option in the first place! If you want your child to eat healthfully, you have to offer only healthy options from which they can chose.
If we offer a child the choice between potato chips, cookies, or an apple, it's not surprising when they pick the chips or cookies. Instead, try offering fruit, yogurt, veggies and bean dip, or whole grain cereal with milk or soy milk. No matter which of these a child picks, you'll know it's a healthy option.
Kids and Food
Finally, children tend to have pickier palates than adults. Add in the changes in sense of taste due to cancer treatment, and it's easy to end up with a child who just doesn't like much of anything. Fortunately, kids often outgrow childhood pickiness when it comes to food.
This is why it's important to keep offering your kids a variety of healthy food. They may not like that food on the first, second, third, or even tenth time they try it. But they just might like it on the eleventh try!
In summary, it's possible that in addition to his taste buds healing and his taste aversions lessening, your son is simply outgrowing some of his former food dislikes.
Again, congratulations to your son and your family on his continued health and wellness.
Nutritionist Suzanne
Suzanne Dixon, MPH, MS, RD