Comparative effectiveness of strategies to prevent weight gain among women with and at risk for breast cancer: a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundObesity affects cancer risk and treatment outcomes. Preventing weight gain may prevent some cancers, improve cancer outcomes, reduce cancer recurrence and increase cancer-related survival. We performed a systematic review to identify strategies to prevent weight gain in individuals with or at risk for breast cancer.FindingsWe included 2 studies from 27,879 citations. In premenopausal women at risk for breast cancer, a low fat diet prevented weight gain at 12 months. Among women with breast cancer, effective strategies to prevent weight gain included low-fat dietary counseling with self-management techniques. One trial reported on cancer outcomes, mortality and adverse events. Low-fat dietary counseling wilth self-management techniques lowers the risk breast cancer relapse by 24% compared with less intensive counseling with maintenance of nutritional status goal. There was no difference in overall mortality and no adverse events were observed.ConclusionLimited evidence suggests that women with or at risk for breast cancer may successfully employ dietary and exercise strategies to prevent weight gain for at least one year. Low fat dietary counseling may improve cancer outcomes in women with breast cancer. Future studies should confirm these findings and evaluate the impact of weight gain prevention on cancer incidence, recurrence and survival.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2193-1801-2-277) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Modification in the diet can induce beneficial effects against breast cancer

“…A systematic review showed that there are some stratAragón F et al . Diet and breast cancer egies to prevent weight gain that may decrease the risk of breast cancer or improve cancer outcomes in women with breast cancer [31] . de Lorgeril and Salen suggested that a high omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, such as the case of traditional Mediterranean diet, reduce the risk of cancer, especially breast cancer [32] .…”

Dietary Habits Contributing to Breast Cancer Risk Among Iranian Women

“…Breast cancer is the second most common cancer amongst women worldwide (Chlebowski et al, 2008;Ferlay et al, 2010), with nearly 1.7 million new cases diagnosed in 2012, that comprising about 12% of all new cancer cases and 25% of all cancers in women (Hussain M et al, 2014). Breast cancer being one of the leading cancers among women in developing countries (Rao et al, 2005), that comprised the 21.4% of female cancers in Iran (Babu et al, 2011).…”

Understanding and influencing the maintenance of physical activity and dietary behaviour change in breast cancer survivors

“…The difficulty in maintaining weight loss long-term has been heavily attributed to the failure in maintaining changes to physical activity and diet . Given maintenance of physical activity and dietary behaviour change is required for weight loss maintenance and for long-term health benefits, the difficulty in maintaining these behaviour changes long-term is concerning and problematic (Chaudhry et al, 2013;. There is a clear gap in the evidence and subsequent need to direct attention to understanding the interventions that promote maintenance of behaviour change (Akers et al, 2010;Fjeldsoe et al, 2012;Gourlan et al, 2011;).…”

“…There have been numerous calls in the literature to better understand how to promote maintenance of behaviour change in order to inform evidence-based practice that will lead to sustained health benefits (Chaudhry et al, 2013;Crain et al, 2010;Lawler et al, 2014;. Maintenance of behaviour change is particularly important for cancer survivors, as they are at an increased risk (compared to those without cancer) for cancer recurrence and mortality, weight gain, as well as a range of lifestyle-related chronic conditions (Ballard-Barbash et al, 2012;Ewertz et al, 2011;Griffiths et al, 2014;Land et al, 2012).…”

“…Due to the limited evidence base to date reporting on maintenance of weight loss and physical activity and dietary behaviour change in breast cancer survivors, little is known about long-term maintenance of behaviour change in this population (Chaudhry et al, 2013). This literature review will therefore draw upon findings from the broader evidence base assessing maintenance of weight loss and physical activity and dietary behaviour change in a diverse range of adult populations to address existing gaps in the literature.…”