not her2specific, but eating fruits/veges, exercising HALVES recurrence rate

[Lani]

even in the obese:

Exercise and diet key to survival
5:00AM Monday June 11, 2007
By Jeremy Laurance

Women with breast cancer can halve their risk of dying from the disease if they eat fruit and take up walking, research released yesterday has shown.

Even those who are overweight or obese gain the same benefit from the strategy - provided they follow both parts of it. Eating fruit (and vegetables) without walking or walking without eating fruit has no effect, researchers said.

The study of 1500 women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer between 1991 and 2000 is the first to examine the combination of exercise and diet and its effect on survival. Previous studies have looked at one or the other and come up with mixed results.

Researchers at the Moore's Cancer Centre, University of California, who conducted the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, say getting diet and exercise right is the key for breast cancer patients.

"We demonstrate in this study of breast cancer survivors that even if a woman is overweight, if she eats at least five servings of vegetables and fruits a day and walks briskly for 30 minutes, six days a week, her risk of death goes down by 50 per cent. The key is that you must do both," said director John Pierce.
The researchers found that just one in six women who were obese were both physically active and had a healthy diet, compared to almost one in three of the rest of the women in the study. The death rate during the five to 11 years for which the women were followed up was 7 per cent among those who led a healthy lifestyle, half that of those who did not.

Cheryl Rock, co-author of the study, said: "This halving of risk was seen in people who were obese as well as in those who were not obese.

"This is of particular importance. Also the effect was not seen in women who practised only one of the lifestyle patterns - high vegetable and fruit intake or physical activity."

The researchers plan to conduct a further study in which they will attempt to intervene to change the diet and level of activity of breast cancer survivors to see if the findings from this first "observational" study are borne out.

- INDEPENDENT

[Margerie]

Great news. I wish this was mandatory information given by oncologists. I mean 50% reduction with only good side efffects- they should be shouting from the rooftops IMHO. "Exercise is free money" like one of my friends says.

[CLTann]

This combination of diet and exercise is certainly very critical for all bc patients. The established medical care team does not push this as much as they obviously should is an economic incentive issue. Drug makers do not benefit from this regimen while other chemo or even Herceptin use has a great deal of profit incentives although the advantage from the use is far less than the combination reported in this article. Even oncs may have the conflict of interest issue on this subject.

[janet/FL]

These findings always leave me with questions. Not the fruit and vegetables, but the exercise.
If I sit in a chair--say at the computer--all day, then go for a 30 minute brisk walk---
Is that the same as someone--say a nurse on her feet all day attending to patients--or someone gardening or house cleaning all day--then goes on a brisk 30 minute walk when she gets home.
Is that the same? I wish they would be a little more clear as to the overall life style of the subjects.

[Bev]

I agree Janet. I also wish they would break it down by tumor signature as well, ie. Her 2+, Er+ etc. Veggies and exercise are good no doubt (reserving judgement on fruit because of sugar). I guess I'm still taking it with a grain of salt until they hit my signature exactly and show 99% efficacy in terms of morbidity and mortality. In other words if people who only exercised had a 18% chance of recurrence but those who exercised and ate veggies had a 12% chance, I would be encouraged to eat more, but I don't view it as case solved. If you told me veggie excercisers had a .09% chance of recurrence I would feel we were on to something. So it helps but... you really need to see the numbers, are we talking 6 and 3%? BB

[janet/FL]

Also, Bev, we would want to know if it was a CHANGE in lifestyle for the ones that ate veggies and exercised. If they had some women who always exercised and ate right and put them in a group where they never exercised and ate right and just the opposite, what would the results be then? Just a lot of questions.

Got to go now and get in my 30 minute brisk walk!

[Christine MH-UK]

"The death rate during the five to 11 years for which the women were followed up was 7 per cent among those who led a healthy lifestyle, half that of those who did not."

The abstract talks about the equivalent of a 30 minute walk six times a week, so this was covered.

OK, 7 out of 100 women not having a recurrence isn't massive, but then again it is substantial. In the herceptin after chemo trial the difference was 8 out of 100 women not recurring. And, of course, veggies and exercise have other health benefits as well.

The big difference here is that it is not a randomised controlled study: maybe the veggie-eating, exercising women were different.

[AlaskaAngel]

Sometimes I may be too simplistic in looking for easy answers. But it is also true that some of the best scientific discoveries happened because someone recognized very simple cause and effect. (You be the judge.)

I tend to agree with RB, that diet is has unseen, unrecognized keys for us. For example, from diagnosis vitamin D (and perhaps especially natural sunshine) has been something I have pursued relentlessly for myself, even when it is quite cold here in Alaska. I think there may even be something especially beneficial about natural sunshine that is not yet scientifically realized, compared to pill forms of vitamin D.

When it comes to thinking simplistically about the fruit/vegetables plus exercise, I think what we are really talking about is whether or not we are consistently flushing out the body fluids. Fruits and vegetables are a major source of water; exercise is the force that pushes the circulation to flush out the tissues. Thus combining them naturally would be more effective. I just tend to see the importance of flushing the system as a way of keeping toxic substances from "settling" in the body long enough to cause trouble.

A.A.

[janet/FL]

AA
I agree with you. Now could you put it in a pill? Course, I would forget to take them.