11:41PM GMT 12 Dec 2014
This post is on Healthwise
| A woman weighing herself on a set of scales Photo: Alamy |
Losing less than half a stone could dramatically reduce the chance of dying from breast cancer, research suggests.
Trials on 2,400 women treated for breast cancer found that death rates a decade later were almost 70 per cent lower among those with some of the deadliest cancers who had lost weight.
Experts hailed the findings as “extraordinarily important” and said diet appeared to be as effective as any drug in tackling some forms of the disease.
The Women’s Intervention Nutrition Study tracked thousands of women for two decades after they were treated for breast cancer, to see if changes in diet could reduce the chance of disease recurrence.
Women were put into two groups, with half put on a low-fat diet. Findings presented to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium show that those who achieved a modest weight loss – around 6lb – and maintained it for five years had lower death rates over the next two decades. The most significant differences were among the 20 per cent of women who had types of cancer that are not linked to hormones.
This group includes triple negative cancers and those which stem from faulty genes, such as BRCA1, which prompted the actress Angelina Jolie to undergo a double mastectomy last year.
Such cancers have the fewest treatment options, and the worst prognosis if not caught early.
Death rates among these women fell by 70 per cent in a decade for those who lost at least 5lb. Even 20 years on, death rates were halved, the study, led by Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre, found.
Dr Rowan Chlebowski, lead researcher and medical oncologist, said the findings were “a big signal” that diet had a far greater impact on cancer than previously thought.
He said the research did not establish the mechanism at work, but suggested that insulin might play a part in feeding tumours.
The trial set out to see if a low-fat diet helped women recovering from treatment from early stage breast cancer.
The women, who on average consumed 30 per cent of their calories from fat at the start of the trial, were given a goal to reduce this to 15 per cent.
However, as well as cutting calories from fat by around 9 per cent, those on the regime lost an average of 6lb, maintained for five years.
Earlier findings from the study showed that five years later, such women were 24 per cent less likely to have cancer recur.
Separate studies which cut fat intake but not overall calories showed no impact on death rates for breast cancer, leading researchers to conclude that losing weight was probably more important than reducing fat.
Professor Tony Howell, director of research at the Genesis breast cancer prevention charity, said the new findings were an “extraordinarily important result”.
“A 69 per cent reduction in deaths in a group with few alternative treatments – that’s as good as any drug,” he said.
“For 20 per cent of women, this is as effective as chemotherapy.”
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