Women In US And Canada To Take Part In Weight-Loss Breast Cancer Trial

Around 3,200 women in the United States and Canada will be taking part in a two-year trial of overweight and obese individuals with breast cancer to see if weight loss can reduce the risk of the cancer recurring. The trial is the first of its scale to test if weight loss helps breast cancer patients.

According to Daily Mail, Harvard Medical School researchers believe that the trial will show that women who lose 10 percent of their weight will have greater chances of surviving breast cancer between 20 to 23 percent over a five-year period. Out of 100 women with the disease who do not go on a diet, 23 would likely die in five years but if they go on a diet, those who would likely die would only be 19.

Major weight-loss cancer trial starting https://t.co/rI9QOUGMcS

— Patients Association (@PatientsAssoc) June 6, 2016

Diet And Exercise

The women taking part in the breast cancer weight-loss trial will be randomly split into two groups, a report from sbs.com.au said. One group will get weight-loss advice to enable them to decrease their body weight by 10 percent. They will also follow an exercise regimen.

The women undergoing a diet will have to eat about 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day. Their exercise regimen will be about 150 minutes weekly during the first six months and will be increased to 250 minutes weekly when possible, the report added.

Weight Not A Certain Factor

BBC reported that American Society of Clinical Oncology spokesperson and breast cancer doctor, Dr. Harold Burstein said that it is not absolute that weight change after diagnosis would affect the recurrence of breast cancer. "Either because it doesn't matter, or the damage has already been done, or the tumour is what it is and does its thing regardless of what you're eating," said Burstein.

It has long been known that breast cancer patients who are overweight or obese face a greater chance of their disease recurring and eventually dying from the disease, Dr. Jennifer Ligibel from the women's cancer centre at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute was quoted as saying. This is said to have been observed in 100 studies, without a clear reason about the connection of weight and recurrence.