People diagnosed with colon cancer have good reason to change the way they eat.
A new study reveals those who consume a traditional Western diet full of meat, fat and refined grains are significantly more likely to have a recurrence of the cancer or even die from the disease.
Researchers looked at about 1,000 stage III colon cancer patients who had been treated with chemotherapy and another treatment. All filled out a questionnaire on diet, and the investigators divided the participants into two groups. The Western diet group ate more meat, fat, refined grains, French fries and sweets. The Prudent diet group ate more fruits, vegetables, poultry and fish.
No increased risk of cancer recurrence or death was associated with the Prudent diet, but people in the highest fifth of the Western diet — those who ate the most of the offending foods — were 3.3-times more likely to suffer a cancer recurrence or death than those in the lowest fifth of the group. The researchers aren’t sure how the Western diet impacts cancer recurrence, but they suggest it could have something to do with increased insulin levels and insulin-like growth factors, which have been linked to the development of tumors.
“We know from previous research that diet and lifestyle influence people’s risk of developing colon cancer,” study author Jeffrey Meyerhardt, M.D., M.P.H., of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, was quoted as saying. “Our results suggest that people treated for locally advanced colon cancer can actively improve their odds of survival by their dietary choices.”
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007;298:754-764
