[Becky]

Mary Jo


The Wins study you are referring to is well documented. I saw this presentation not only at San Antonio Dec 06 but also at the June 06 ASCO.

The beauty of ASCO was they had a "Lifestyle" block of presentations. The Wins study, the Exercise "MET" study and one on the role of body fat/location/glycemic index (and general weight loss).

The Wins study that you are referring to was one that (at ASCO), I asked 2 questions to the presenter and Kim from CT (aka Mamacze) also asked questions.

In the WINS study, those who benefit the best are ER/PR neg but having at least one receptor negative GREATLY impacts the results (40% for ER+ but PR- and 51% for ER- but PR+). ER/PR+ is only 21% (and is not statistically significant).

Fat grams need to be less than 20g per day. Kim asked how this is possible - the answer is no animal products - vegan is best. I asked - did they monitor or control the type of fat - answer - no they didn't but most did come from vegetable sources. I asked - did they or will they look into the role of balancing Omega 3 to 6. Answer - no but the investigator said this is a HUGE consideration for the future as most studies deal with adding Omega 3 but not balancing which he felt is key.

At SABCS (just a couple of weeks ago) the same presenter presented the updated data (initially the ER/PR neg reduction was 44%). Questions posed were what he thought the mechanism is (as most would think that the hormone positive women would do the best (as fat makes estrogen). He thought that it had to do with IGF (insulin growth factor). It is known that some bc has these receptors and any woman who is ER/PR neg probably has something else positive to make the cancer go (especially triple negatives as they just haven't found the "go" receptor(s) for them). This taken in context of the Exercise "MET" study that shows that 5 hours of moderate exercise (walking) reduces the recurrence rate of ER/PR neg by 50% starts to really hit the IGF theory home. Low Fat/Good Carbs diet and exercising increases the body to utilize lower amounts of insulin, reduces and resolves metabolic syndrome and reduces abdominal fat. The Glycemic index study shows the same thing - reduce bad carbs and sugar so your body doesn't have a sugar spike that forces an insulin rush.

Exercise and a proper diet makes good sense regardless on whether or not it does anything for recurrence rates (although plain ole logic tells one it should). If anything else, you will be healthier to whether any storm that gets thrown to you. In theory, most of us should do very well in regard to not recurring. However, most of us are in our 30s and 40s where other illnesses (like heart disease) can strike when we are older and diet and exercise will also greatly curtail this and other diseases that can be modified with diet/exercise (so why not cancer too).