Low-fat diet linked to lower breast-cancer recurrence rate

WASHINGTON -- Breast cancer patients can cut the chances their tumors will come back by adopting low-fat diets, according to the first study to produce direct evidence that a lifestyle change can fend off any type of tumor.

The study of more than 2,400 middle-aged and elderly women found that those who reduced the fat in their diets after undergoing standard treatment for early breast cancer were significantly less likely to suffer a recurrence in the next five years, researchers reported today.

The findings indicate that low-fat diets, which also are being tested to protect women against getting breast cancer in the first place, could become a standard weapon for fighting the disease -- the most common cancer among women, researchers said.

''Many breast cancer survivors are looking for things they can do to improve their chances," said Rowan Chlebowski of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, who led the study. ''Now we have evidence women can play a role in the management of their disease."

The study provides the most powerful evidence yet that people can influence their risk for cancer by making a lifestyle change such as eating better and exercising more, specialists said. Previous research has suggested that might be the case, but the new study is the first to show a benefit from carefully changing a single behavior -- other than quitting smoking -- in a large number of patients and following them to see what happens.

''For the first time, we have scientific data about what patients can do for themselves as a lifestyle change that can significantly improve their chances," said Charles Balch, executive vice president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Although Chlebowski and others said the findings needed to be confirmed by additional research, they added that breast cancer patients might consider reducing their fat intake in the meantime since such a step could have additional health benefits.

The findings come from the Women's Intervention Nutrition Study, a federally funded study of early-stage breast cancer patients between the ages 48 and 79 in 37 states that began in 1994.

For the study, 975 postmenopausal women went through eight weeks of nutritional counseling about how to cut fat in their diets after undergoing standard treatment of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and sometimes hormone treatment. Another 1,462 similar women received counseling for how to eat a well-balanced diet but no specific guidance about reducing fat intake.

The women on the low-fat diet consumed about 33.3 grams of fat per day, while the women in the other group consumed about 51.3 grams. After five years on average, 96 women on the low-fat diet -- 9.8 percent -- had a recurrence, compared with 181 -- 12.4 percent -- of those on a standard diet, with the women on the low-fat diet experiencing about a 24 percent reduction in risk.

In a study released yesterday, researchers for the Department of Veterans Affairs reported that statin drugs commonly used to lower cholesterol and fight heart disease seem to cut the risk of pancreatic and throat cancer by more than half.

It was the latest in a series of reports to attribute cancer-prevention properties to statins. A separate study released in Florida on Saturday found that the drugs lowered the risk of breast cancer by 51 percent. Earlier reports also have ascribed a protective effect to statins for prostate and colon cancers.

One part of the study found that statins were associated with a 56 percent reduced incidence of esophageal cancer, after age, gender, smoking, and alcohol use were taken into account.

Material from Reuters was included in this report.