{"id":43020,"date":"2025-06-03T04:14:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=43020"},"modified":"2025-06-03T04:16:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:16:26","slug":"an-anti-inflammatory-diet-may-help-colon-cancer-patients-live-longer-study-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=43020","title":{"rendered":"An anti-inflammatory diet may help colon cancer patients live longer, study says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eating food that lowers\u2002inflammation in the body<\/a> may help people with advanced colon cancer<\/a> survive longer, <\/strong>according to research presented at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings, presented Sunday, suggest that cancer patients can have at least some control over the outcome of their disease, even at later stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the most common question that patients ask me when I see them in clinic,\u201d said Dr. Kimmie Ng, an author of the new study and associate chief of the division of gastrointestinal oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. \u201cWhat is it that I can do myself to try to improve my chances, help me live as long as possible?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ng\u2019s study \u2014 which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal \u2014 looked at the diets of 1,625 adults with stage 3 colon cancer, meaning the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes, but not to other parts of the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With standard care \u2014 surgery and chemotherapy in most cases \u2014 about three-quarters of patients can expect to live at least five years after their diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new research suggests diet may influence those odds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s unique about colon cancer is that it\u2019s a cancer of the digestive tract,\u201d said Dr. Sara Char, Ng\u2019s co-author and a clinical fellow in hematology and oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. \u201cWhat we eat will inevitably go through the colon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the patients in the new analysis got the same treatment: surgery, followed by three to six months of chemotherapy. <\/strong>They also filled out dietary questionnaires during and after their chemotherapy treatments. Researchers followed up on the participants for five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients who regularly ate foods that promote inflammation in the body \u2014 ultraprocessed foods, excessive amounts of sugar and saturated fats \u2014 had up to an 87% higher risk of dying from their disease when compared to people who ate a far less inflammatory diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The less-inflammatory diet was more plant-focused<\/a>, and included foods such as leafy greens, carrots, coffee and tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real-world examples<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancer centers have dietitians who work with patients to make sure they\u2019re getting proper nutrition while they\u2019re going through treatment, said Heather Greenlee, medical director of integrative medicine at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. Chemotherapy, for example, can come with side effects, including difficulty swallowing and poor appetite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once treatment is done, patients may need additional help making dietary changes to improve survival long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe issue that a lot of patients face is that people don\u2019t know how to make these dietary changes that are sustainable over time,\u201d said Greenlee, who also wasn\u2019t involved with the research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenlee heads Fred Hutch\u2019s Cook for Your Life<\/a> <\/strong>program for people who\u2019ve had cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important for big studies like this to be done to show that there is this potential benefit for lifestyle and behavioral changes in the face of some of these cancers that are difficult to treat,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She recommends a plant-focused approach, such as adding beans, broccoli and cauliflower to meals, as well as high-fiber foods. \u201cThose are all good places to start,\u201d Greenlee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exercise boost<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patients also boosted their chances of living longer with physical activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who ate diets least likely to promote inflammation and who did the equivalent of taking a brisk walk for an hour at least three times a week had a 63% lower risk of death from any cause during the five-year follow-up period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A separate study<\/a>, also presented Sunday at the cancer meeting, found that regular exercise was linked to a 28% lower risk of the cancer recurring, a new cancer diagnosis or death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 150,000 people are diagnosed<\/a> with colorectal cancer every year, according to the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only can healthy lifestyle choices, like diet and exercise, have an impact after a cancer diagnosis,\u201d said Dr. Julie Gralow, chief medical officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, \u201cthey are absolutely as good as the benefits we see from drugs, and probably even better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eating food that lowers\u2002inflammation in the body may help people with advanced colon cancer survive longer, according to research presented at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago. The findings, presented Sunday, suggest that cancer patients can have at least some control over the outcome of their disease, even at later stages. \u201cThis is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":43021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5784],"tags":[33512,6142,33511],"class_list":["post-43020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-anti-inflammatory-foods","tag-colon-cancer","tag-longer-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43020"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43024,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43020\/revisions\/43024"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}