Weight Gain During Chemotherapy
In a presentation at a recent meeting of the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), Diane Riccardi, a dietician at the University of South Florida in Tampa, reported that women with breast cancer are more likely to gain weight during chemotherapy than lose it.
Importantly, she also identified a number of hormonal and behavioral factors that may result in weight gain.
Riccardi and a team of colleagues studied 53 women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Almost a third of the patients gained weight after 3 months of treatment, and 58 percent gained weight after 6 months. She noted that doubling the length of chemotherapy approximately doubled the increase in weight.
When the researchers focused on dietary habits during chemotherapy, they found that fat intake increased from 26 percent to 30 percent among the women who gained weight during treatment. These women were also eating more overall calories and exercising less often than women who did not gain weight.
Riccardi noted that many women are surprised to hear that chemotherapy can lead to weight gain; they expect to lose weight because of other side effects of treatment such as nausea and vomiting. She recommended that women undergoing treatment be advised to exercise as much as possible and to track the foods they eat to ensure a healthy, well-balanced diet.
In an earlier AICR-sponsored seminar, researchers discussed the need for more nutritional information specifically geared toward the more than 8.5 million cancer survivors who have already completed successful treatment.
Speaking before a gathering of cancer researchers, cancer survivors and policy makers at the AICR's "Nutrition After Cancer" conference at the New York Academy of Medicine, Marilyn Gentry, the president of the AICR, decried the current lack of reliable research on survivor issues in general-and the area of diet in particular.
"Research has revealed convincing evidence that diet, exercise and weight management can influence the risk of first cancers," she said. "But little research has focused on how these same factors may help survivors keep healthy and free of disease. That's more than regrettable. That's downright frustrating."
Presentations at the conference focused on current efforts to identify the specific dietary and lifestyle choices that may influence the risk of cancer recurrence, the risk of secondary cancers, late effects of cancer treatment, and overall quality of life.
Dr. David Heber of the Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA spoke about the practical steps that survivors can take that may help to reduce their risk of cancer. Variety and moderation are the keys, he said.
"Eating a predominantly plant-based diet, drinking alcohol only in moderation or not at all, and avoiding tobacco completely-these are some of the simple, everyday steps that fortify the body's defenses. Such steps assume an even greater importance in the lives of survivors, whose systems may need a bit of extra help."
SOURCES:
11th Annual Research Conference on Diet, Nutrition and Cancer, American Institute for Cancer Research, July 17, 2001, Washington, DC
"Nutrition After Cancer," American Institute for Cancer Research, May 8, 2001, New York, New York
[Table of Contents] [Archived Issues / Search] [The Breast Center]