Low-fat diets can cut relapse, study shows

A study found patients on a low-fat diet were 24 percent less likely to suffer recurring tumors.
ORLANDO SENTINEL
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Breast-cancer patients who switched to low-fat diets cut their risk of recurring tumors when compared with women who ate almost twice as much fat, according to a study released Monday in Orlando.
The women in the diet group did not follow a strict meal plan but limited fat to about 30 grams a day by choosing less fatty alternatives in their daily meals.
These patients were 24 percent less likely to suffer a relapse than those who were eating typical amounts of fat, or about 51 grams a day.
While doctors long have pushed good nutrition as a way to ward off cancer in the first place, this study shows that a low-fat approach might aid in keeping the disease from returning.
The findings were released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting, which ends today at the Orange County Convention Center.
Unequal effects
"Patients are always asking what changes they can make in their diets to prevent their cancer from coming back and, until now, we haven't had any good data to pass along to them," said Dr. Robert J. Morgan, a staff physician who treats breast-cancer patients at the City of Hope Cancer Center in California.
But Dr. Morgan, who was not involved in the study of more than 2,400 women, also cautioned that the findings do not apply equally to all breast-cancer patients.
Women who benefited most were those with tumors that are considered "estrogen negative," as opposed to "estrogen positive." Breast-cancer tumors are put in either category, depending on whether the hormone fuels their growth.
Patients with estrogen-negative tumors reduced their chances of a relapse by 42 percent when they followed a low-fat diet. In contrast, estrogen-positive patients had a 15 percent reduction in risk, which did not reach statistical significance.
The study's lead author said the findings are sending an overall signal that low-fat diets may be crucial for some cancer patients. Dr. Rowan T. Chlebowski with Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute said it's hard to pin down exactly why the diet might help.
"There are thousands of proteins that are going to be different in the blood of someone who is on a low-fat diet versus a fatty diet," he said.
In the study, women were randomly assigned to either the low-fat or standard diet groups. All the women were postmenopausal breast-cancer patients in early stages who already had undergone standard treatment such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and medications.
The study took place from 1994 to 2001 at cancer centers in 37 sites in the United States.