BackgroundThe quality of life for breast cancer survivors has become increasingly important because of their high survival rate and prolonged life expectancy. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of physical activity following diagnosis and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in breast cancer survivors.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study of breast cancer survivors. A total of 231 women aged 21–78 years who had been diagnosed with stages I to III breast cancer and had breast cancer surgery at least 6 months prior were recruited from three hospitals between September 2012 and April 2015 and were included in this study. We asked participants about their HRQOL and engagement in physical activity using structured questionnaires. We examined the association between HRQOL levels and physical activity using a generalized linear model.ResultsBreast cancer survivors in the high physical activity group (3rd tertile) were more likely to have lower scores for fatigue (p for trend = 0.001) and pain (p for trend = 0.02) and higher scores for sexual function (p for trend = 0.007) than those in the low physical activity group (1st tertile). When we stratified participants by stage, we found increasing scores for physical functioning (p for trend =0.01) and decreasing scores for fatigue (p for trend = 0.02) with increasing levels of physical activity in breast cancer survivors with stage I breast cancer. In survivors with stages II and III, we found statistically significant associations with fatigue (p for trend = 0.02) and sexual functioning (p for trend = 0.001).ConclusionsIn conclusion, engagement in physical activity was related to better health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors. Our findings may warrant further prospective and intervention studies to support the benefit of physical activity in improving the quality of life and survival of Korean breast cancer survivors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12955-017-0706-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Low-fat tofu produced by denaturing the two major soy proteins separately had improved textural qualities similar to full-fat tofu as a result of increased hydrophobic interactions between denatured protein molecules.

ScopeThe association between carbohydrate intake from low‐, medium‐, and high‐glycemic index (GI) foods and hyperlipidemia among population with a high‐carbohydrate diet is examined.Methods and resultsA total of 93,870 participants of the Health Examinees Study (HEXA) are included in this cross‐sectional study. The odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CIs) are estimated using the logistic regression model. The mean (interquartile range) of % energy from carbohydrate intake is 72.05 (67.73–77.18)% per day. Increasing intake of carbohydrate replacing fat is associated with increasing prevalence of high triglyceride (TG) and low HDL‐cholesterol, with stronger association for high‐GI carbohydrates than low‐ or med‐GI carbohydrates. ORs (95% CIs) comparing the highest with the lowest quintiles of high‐GI carbohydrates are 1.27 (1.09, 1.48) among men and 1.51 (1.31, 1.74) among women for high TG; and 1.50 (1.24, 1.82) among men and 1.73 (1.54, 1.93) among women for low‐HDL‐cholesterol. High‐GI carbohydrate intake replacing fat is inversely associated with the prevalence of high LDL‐ and total cholesterol. More pronounced associations in body mass index (BMI) <25 kg m−2 than higher BMI are found.ConclusionsIncreasing low‐quality carbohydrate intake is associated with increasing prevalence of high TGs and low HDL‐cholesterol.