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Low fat diets may keep breast cancer from returning to women that have already had it a new study says. However, many specialists don't agree with the results of the study.
These experts believe that there are other factors that need to be taken into account, and that breast cancer patients shouldn't be advised to follow a low-fat diet based on this study.
The study,which was funded by the National Cancer Institute, included 2,437 women. 1,462 of the women continued to eat their normal diets while 975 women were set up on less fatty diets by their doctors.
Cancer returned to 9.8% of the women on the low-fat diets, while it returned to 12.4% of the women on their normal diets. However, the only women who benefited were those whose tumors were not helped to grow by estrogen. These women had 42 percent lower risk of recurrence if they ate low-fat diets, but they accounted for just 1 out of 5 women in the entire study similar to breast cancer cases in the general population.
Results for the other 4 out of 5 women in the study did not reach statistical significance, meaning they could have occurred by chance alone a point the American Cancer Society noted in a statement on its Web site Monday.
The advice to follow a low-fat diet to prevent breast cancer "is not something that can be taken generally" from this study's results, said the cancer society's deputy medical director, Dr. Len Lichtenfeld.
Others noted that women in the low-fat group lost on average 4 pounds, and that many studies have linked excess weight to excess breast cancer risk. The low-fat dieters also likely ate more fruits and vegetables and less red meat other things known to lower breast cancer risk.
"It could be any or all of those components that make up a low-fat-dietary pattern" that actually caused the benefit, said Dr. Steven Clinton, a nutrition and cancer prevention expert at Ohio State University.
"We can't separate those components out," Chlebowski admitted.
One study participant whose cancer has not returned, 76-year-old Jean Miller of Columbus, Ohio, coupled the low-fat diet with more exercise.
"I still pay attention to my fat grams," she said. But she also now walks, rides an exercise bike, uses a treadmill and even has taken up country line dancing.
Studies also suggest exercise helps prevent breast cancer.
Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in American women. About 213,000 new cases and 40,870 deaths are expected in the United States this year, and about 1.15 million cases and 411,000 deaths worldwide.
"There are more questions than answers," said the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's director of breast care, Eric Winer. "What we don't want to happen is for every woman who's had breast cancer to panic if she's had a Big Mac."
The women on the low fat diet consumed around 33.3 grams of fat each day, and the women continuing with their normal diets consumed approximately 51.3 grams.
On the Net:
Cancer conference: www.PLWC.org, www.asco.org
These experts believe that there are other factors that need to be taken into account, and that breast cancer patients shouldn't be advised to follow a low-fat diet based on this study.
The study,which was funded by the National Cancer Institute, included 2,437 women. 1,462 of the women continued to eat their normal diets while 975 women were set up on less fatty diets by their doctors.
Cancer returned to 9.8% of the women on the low-fat diets, while it returned to 12.4% of the women on their normal diets. However, the only women who benefited were those whose tumors were not helped to grow by estrogen. These women had 42 percent lower risk of recurrence if they ate low-fat diets, but they accounted for just 1 out of 5 women in the entire study similar to breast cancer cases in the general population.
Results for the other 4 out of 5 women in the study did not reach statistical significance, meaning they could have occurred by chance alone a point the American Cancer Society noted in a statement on its Web site Monday.
The advice to follow a low-fat diet to prevent breast cancer "is not something that can be taken generally" from this study's results, said the cancer society's deputy medical director, Dr. Len Lichtenfeld.
Others noted that women in the low-fat group lost on average 4 pounds, and that many studies have linked excess weight to excess breast cancer risk. The low-fat dieters also likely ate more fruits and vegetables and less red meat other things known to lower breast cancer risk.
"It could be any or all of those components that make up a low-fat-dietary pattern" that actually caused the benefit, said Dr. Steven Clinton, a nutrition and cancer prevention expert at Ohio State University.
"We can't separate those components out," Chlebowski admitted.
One study participant whose cancer has not returned, 76-year-old Jean Miller of Columbus, Ohio, coupled the low-fat diet with more exercise.
"I still pay attention to my fat grams," she said. But she also now walks, rides an exercise bike, uses a treadmill and even has taken up country line dancing.
Studies also suggest exercise helps prevent breast cancer.
Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in American women. About 213,000 new cases and 40,870 deaths are expected in the United States this year, and about 1.15 million cases and 411,000 deaths worldwide.
"There are more questions than answers," said the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's director of breast care, Eric Winer. "What we don't want to happen is for every woman who's had breast cancer to panic if she's had a Big Mac."
The women on the low fat diet consumed around 33.3 grams of fat each day, and the women continuing with their normal diets consumed approximately 51.3 grams.
On the Net:
Cancer conference: www.PLWC.org, www.asco.org
