Diet plus exercise up survival after breast cancer
By Charnicia Huggins
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among women who have been treated for breast cancer, those who stick to a healthy diet and are moderately active seem to live longer, results of a new study indicate. A good diet alone or exercise alone doesn't have the same benefit.
"It looks like if you get your physical activity going and get your fruits and vegetables in you can reduce your risk (of dying) significantly," study co-author Dr. John Pierce told Reuters Health.
Several studies have shown that diet and exercise may each contribute to breast cancer survival, but little research has looked at the effect of both diet and exercise together. Pierce, director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, in La Jolla, California, and his team looked at the combined effects of diet and exercise for breast cancer survivors.
They studied 1,490 women who had been treated for breast cancer 2 years earlier, on average.
Overall, only 30 percent of these women maintained the healthiest type of lifestyle, including eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily and engaging in physical activity equivalent to a half-hour of brisk walking six days a week.
These women had a 44 percent lower risk of dying within a 10-year period than did their peers, Pierce and his team report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
What's more, this lower risk of death remained true regardless of whether the women were obese, study findings indicate. The effect of physical activity and diet was "so strong it wiped out the body mass index effect," Pierce said. However, obese women were less likely than nonobese women to report such healthy habits.
A similarly reduced risk of death was not apparent among non-physically active women who consumed the highest amounts of fruits and vegetables or among physically active women who did not eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, the investigators note.
"Doing each one alone didn't do it," Pierce said. "There was no benefit from each one alone, but there was a benefit from both together."
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, June 10, 2007.
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What breastcancer.org says about this article…
Diet plus exercise up survival after breast cancer
The study reviewed here adds to the growing evidence that a healthy diet and exercise can really benefit women diagnosed with breast cancer. The study followed almost 1,500 women who had been treated for breast cancer. About 30% of the women stuck with a healthy diet and moderate exercise program after treatment. These women were about 50% more likely to survive during the 10-year follow-up period compared to women who didn't stick with the diet and exercise program.
Importantly, this study found that the survival benefits were seen only in women who stuck to BOTH a healthy diet and a regular exercise routine. A good diet alone or regular exercise alone didn't offer the same benefits.
It's also gratifying to see that obese women benefited from a healthy diet combined with regular exercise. That’s important because obesity has a negative effect on women with breast cancer. It's good to know that a healthy diet and regular exercise can overcome obesity's negative effects.
The structure of the diet and the level of exercise required are important, too. Women with improved survival ate a healthy diet that included 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day and exercised moderately (a 30-minute brisk walk 6 days a week).
If you're being treated or have been treated for breast cancer, try to make exercise and a healthy diet part of your daily routine. Think of a healthier lifestyle as another important part of your treatment plan. Talk to your doctor about how much and how often you should exercise. To learn more about good nutrition, visit breastcancer.org's Nutrition Section. Find the right diet and exercise routine for YOU and then do your best to stick with it!
This article was made possible by an educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline.