NPR

Czech Company Designs A Nonalcoholic Beer To Taste Good To Cancer Patients

A nonalcoholic brew joins the growing market to help chemo patients overcome the changes in their palates that make food unappealing. And it just might help them feel better, too.
Jana Kročáková and Petra Plánková of Mamma HELP show off their new brew aimed at helping breast cancer patients undergoing chemo "feel normal" and overcome their impaired sense of taste.

Many oncology patients swear off alcohol during treatment, but in the Czech Republic, where beer is the national beverage, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy have a new option.

The non-alcoholic Mamma Beer (mamma is the Latin word for "breast") is meant to counteract dysgeusia, a palate-altering phenomena that is often a side effect of chemotherapy that makes food and drink taste bitter or bland. It is targeted to women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, and is one of several new products coming onto the market specifically to address the changes in the way food tastes to cancer patients.

"Chemotherapy in breast cancer patients often causes a loss in taste or a change of taste that leads

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR2 min read
Tesla Recalls Cybertruck Over Sticky Problem. Blame It On — Yes — Soap
Accelerator pedals on the new Cybertrucks can get stuck, a potentially dangerous production flaw. The reason why they're so sticky is soap.
NPR1 min read
Amsterdam Was Flooded With Tourists In 2023, So It Won't Allow Any More Hotels
Twenty-six hotels that already have permits can move forward, but after that a hotel can only be built if one shuts down. Tourists spent about 20.7 million nights in Amsterdam hotels last year.
NPR3 min readDiet & Nutrition
What World War II Taught Us About How To Help Starving People Today
The modern study of the starvation was sparked by the liberation of concentration camp survivors. U.S. and British soldiers rushed to feed them — and yet they sometimes perished.

Related Books & Audiobooks