Food and beverage intake, as well as weight status, can integrate with cancer treatment to mitigate treatment-related toxicities, support treatment success, and prevent recurrence. Yet, evidencebased recommendations are lacking. This systematic review sought to determine what food or beverages consumed during cancer treatment might prevent recurrence, subsequent malignancies, treatment-related toxicity, or death.We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochran for research studies conducted within the last ten years on food and beverage consumption during cancer treatment, with no restrictions on age or cancer type. Two reviewers independently extracted information on intervention type, diet, and outcomes; these data were confirmed by a third reviewer.Nineteen studies were selected from 1,551 potential studies. Nine were randomized controlled trials, analyzing high protein diets, short-term fasting, low-fat diets, FODMAP diet, or comparing consumption of one specific food or nutrient, including Concord grape juice, onions, and fiber. The remaining ten studies were observational or retrospective and tracked treatment symptoms, general dietary intake, or weight status as well as consumption of specific foods including nuts, coffee, sugar-sweetened beverages, coffee.Available evidence suggests food can be effective at ameliorating cancer treatment-related toxicities and improving prognosis, but more research is needed.
Environmental factors such as food availability and variety can function as cues for overeating in individuals susceptible to overweight or obesity, but relatively little is known about other types of environmental factors that may also be important. This qualitative study compared and contrasted categories of internal and external cues through focus groups and key informant interviews with 24 adults (26 to 77 years old) in the United States who had a body mass index within the healthy range (21.6 ± 2.5 kg/m2) or had overweight or obesity (29.1 ± 3.6 kg/m2). Five domains of external factors influencing food intake were identified: (a) Environmental cues including food availability and variety; (b) normative expectations for dietary intake; (c) food palatability; (d) overt social pressures to overeat; and (e) perceived social expectations around eating. All external domains were noted by participants with overweight or obesity to be challenging, and solutions to avoid overeating were lacking; however, overt social pressures and perceived social expectations appeared to be especially problematic. By explicitly defining different domains of external factors that challenge healthy weight regulation, this study identifies specific targets to address in interventions for healthy weight management.
Objectives Cultural factors influence obesity risk, but this relationship has not been systematically studied due to the lack of a validated survey instrument. The objective of this project was to develop a prototype questionnaire to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and sociocultural factors. Methods Interviews and focus groups were conducted in the US (N = 24) and France (N = 25). Recordings were transcribed and analyzed (NVivo), and results informed the new questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered in two pilots using Amazon Mechanical Turk (pilot 1: N = 25 adults in France and 25 in US; pilot 2: N = 120 US adults). Demographic information was also collected. Questions were grouped by theme and scores were created from response averages within each theme. The scores were analyzed in relation to BMI, age and country (ANOVA, Spearman correlation). The scores included cultural insularity (high score = greater role of cultural identity in food choices), external eating pressures (high score = stronger perceived and overt pressures), food insecurity (high score = greater food insecurity), childhood intake control (high score = stricter parental control of eating during childhood), and nutrition knowledge (high score = better discernment of healthy vs. unhealthy foods). Results In France, the cultural insularity score was higher than in the US (P = 0.01) and was correlated with BMI (r = 0.5, P = 0.03). The childhood intake control score was also inversely associated with BMI in France (r = −0.5, P = 0.03). In the US, BMI was positively associated with the external eating pressures (pilot 2: r = 0.2, P = 0.03) and nutrition knowledge (pilot 2: r = 0.2, P = 0.04) scores, and was inversely associated with the food insecurity score (pilot 2: r = −0.24, P = 0.008). In both countries, age was associated with the childhood intake control score (France: r = 0.5, P = 0.03, and US pilot 1: r = 0.4, P = 0.03, pilot 2: r = 0.4, P < .0001). Conclusions This approach and prototype questionnaire identified novel cultural factors associated with high BMI in France and the US. Additional research is needed to validate the prototype and identify core cultural factors associated with risk of obesity in different cultures. Funding Sources USDA agreement #8050–51,000-105–01S; Danone Research; Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition.
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