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Low-Fat Diet May Cut Return of Breast Cancer
May 16, 2005 (Orlando, Fla.) -- Lifestyle changes can improve the outlook for people with cancer. Postmenopausal breast cancer survivors who cut down on fats in their diet can reduce their risk of tumor recurrence, researchers say.
In a study of more than 2,400 women with early breast cancer, those who adopted a low-fat diet were one-fourth less likely to have their cancer return within five years than those who continued to eat their typical foods.
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Researcher Rowan T. Chlebowski, MD, of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, cautions that "this is just a first, strong signal" that dietary changes may help prevent cancer from returning. But if confirmed in future studies, counting grams of fat could become a powerful new weapon in the war on cancer, researchers say.
Dietary fats have been linked to some of the most common cancers including breast, colon, and prostate cancers. According to the National Cancer Institute, limiting fat consumption and calorie intake appears to be one possible strategy to decrease the risk of some cancers. That's because people who eat large amounts of meat, which is high in fat and calories, exhibit an increased cancer risk, especially for colon cancer.
Nutrition Counseling Brings Results
The study included 2,437 women aged 48 to 75. All were treated with surgery for breast cancer, followed by radiation, chemotherapy, and hormone treatment, if needed. Every three months, they received some general dietary guidance.
Nearly 1,000 of the women were also entered into an intensive nutrition program, which included eight one-on-one sessions with a dietitian every other week, followed by quarterly visits. There were also monthly support groups.
The dietitian asked patients what they were eating and taught them which foods contained fat, the amount of fat in those foods, and how to count grams of fat. The goal was to reduce dietary fat intake to 20% or less of the total daily calories.
Women who received the intensive counseling reduced the amount of fat in their diet from 51 grams per day to about 33 grams a day, or from 29% to 21% of their total daily calories.
They were rewarded with a modest amount of weight loss -- about 4 pounds.
The women in the other group, on the other hand, did not significantly change their fat intake and their weight remained stable.
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October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and a new study reveals why a high number of women with the disease still prefer to have the entire breast surgically removed instead of just the tumor. It's not always because doctors recommend it.
