METABOLIC IMPROVEMENT AND LONGTERM WEIGHT MANAGEMENT FOLLOWING WCRF DIETARY RECOMMENDATION FOR SECONDARY BREAST CANCER PREVENTION

Abstract

Overweight or obesity are the second preventable cause of cancer, being related to 20%of diagnosis, moreover about 33%of postmenopausal breast cancers could be prevented by lifestyle modification(1). Excessive white adipose tissue (WAT) promotes a pro-oxidative microenvironment with low-grade systemic inflammation, contributing to insulin resistance and leading to altered hormonal pathways, promoting tumor cells growth and metastasis(2). We have enrolled 155 women at the end of their breast cancer treatment (surgery, chemo and/or radiotherapy) between January 2014 and 2020, most of them were taking oral hormonal therapy. Women with obesity (WwO) were 58%, type I obesity 53%. Our dietary counselling was a personalized hypocaloric (about 500-800 Kcal deficit) mediterranean diet with lifestyle modification, following recommendations of the latest WCRFreport(1). Weight loss and gluco-homeostasis data are shown in table 1. Notably, after 6 months only 53% (56% in WwO) followed dietary-lifestyle therapy. After 12 months another 48% of patients dropped out (35% in WwO). Maintaining a healthy weight or achieving weight loss through Mediterranean diet pattern(3)and healthy lifestyle as suggested by WCRF may reduce breast cancer risk improving metabolic parameters (FIG1),especially those related to insulin resistance, moreover metabolic improvement can be maintained even after a slight weight regain.