Fitness Reduces Risk of Cancer Recurrence

Boston Globe health reporter Judy Foreman writes that while recent studies failed to show a direct effect of diet on cancer, a slightly older study does show a definite benefit from fitness. Foreman directs us to  the Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study, rleased in December and led by Dr.
Rowan T. Chlebowski, a medical oncologist at the Los Angeles Biomedical
Research Institute. The team studied 2,400 women who had been treated
for early-stage breast cancer and randomly assigned them to a dietary
fat reduction group or regular diet group. After five years of
follow-up, there were significantly fewer recurrences among members of
the lower fat group, most of whom lost weight.  The only trouble, Chlebowski told Foreman, is that it’s not clear whether it was the low fat diet per se
or losing weight that conferred the benefit. And cues from other
research suggest that losing weight, in part because it brings insulin
levels into better control, may be the key.
Read more in the Boston Globe.