‘For me it's about not feeling like I'm on a diet’: a thematic analysis of women's experiences of an intermittent energy restricted diet to reduce breast cancer risk

Donnelly, Louise S.; Shaw, Rachel; Pegington, Mary; Armitage, Christopher J.; Evans, D. Gareth; Howell, Anthony; Harvie, Michelle

doi:10.1111/jhn.12571

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…29 Additionally, the term “diet” can sometimes have negative connotations and suggest a departure from one’s usual eating habits. 30…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…29 Additionally, the term "diet" can sometimes have negative connotations and suggest a departure from one's usual eating habits. 30 To help female cancer survivors follow dietary recommendations that promote healthy cancer survivorship and fertility, one effective strategy is to combine evidence-based dietary patterns with effective nutrition counseling strategies such as motivational interviewing, self-monitoring, social support, goal setting, group counseling and cognitive restructuring. 31 Most often, multiple nutrition counseling strategies would need to be integrated to achieve results.…”

Section: Perceived Rigidity Of Dietary Guidancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimizing Fertility Treatment With Nutrition Guidance: Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Healthful Nutrition Among Female Cancer Survivors With Fertility Challenges

et al. 2023

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Introduction: Young women diagnosed with cancer are at an increased risk for infertility compared to women without a cancer diagnosis. Consuming a healthful diet comprised of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and unsaturated fats has been found to improve both fertility and cancer survivorship. Given this reason, dietary interventions tailored to support female cancer survivors with fertility challenges are of immense importance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore barriers and facilitators to healthful nutrition among female cancer survivors with fertility challenges, to inform the development of dietary interventions for this population. Methods: Using a formative research design, interview, survey, and dietary intake data were collected from 20 female cancer survivors of reproductive age. Participant-check focus group discussions were conducted to validate findings. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were coded and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Quantitative data were analyzed using means, standard deviations, ranges, frequencies, and percentages. Results: The average age of respondents was 31.47 ± 3.5 years and the average BMI was 24.78 ± 4.1 kg/m2. All participants were college educated, 45% identified as White, 50% as Black, and 10% as Hispanic or Latinx. Cancer diagnoses included breast, thyroid, ovarian, leukemia, and gastrointestinal cancers. The following themes were identified: (1) Lack of nutrition-related resources and detailed guidance, (2) Work-life balance, (3) Perceived rigidity of dietary guidance, (4) Treatment-related fatigue, (5) Having trust in healthcare providers, (6) Higher motivation to change nutrition behavior, and (7) Recognizing the additional benefits of nutrition. Conclusion: These findings indicate a sought-after yet unmet need for post-cancer treatment fertility nutrition recommendations. Interventions should be tailored to women’s needs and focus on improving their self-efficacy to make healthful dietary choices.

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“…29 Additionally, the term “diet” can sometimes have negative connotations and suggest a departure from one’s usual eating habits. 30…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Perceived Rigidity Of Dietary Guidancementioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing Fertility Treatment With Nutrition Guidance: Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Healthful Nutrition Among Female Cancer Survivors With Fertility Challenges

et al. 2023

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“…Besides energetic restriction as a promising approach to not only lose weight but to also benefit cognition and brain structure (51,55,56) , dietary modifications that do not explicitly involve fasting may be easier to adopt for most individuals (57) . In a cross-sectional epidemiological analysis in >8000 adults, we found that less animal-based dietary intake (resembling vegetarian and vegan diets and those similar to Mediterranean diet) was linked to better weight status and to certain differences in personality traits, i.e.…”

Section: Diet and Brain Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of obesity and diet on brain structure and function: a gut–brain–body crosstalk

Medawar

Witte

2022

Proc. Nutr. Soc.

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Most societies witness an ever increasing prevalence of both obesity and dementia, a scenario related to often underestimated individual and public health burden. Overnutrition and weight gain have been linked with abnormal functionality of homoeostasis brain networks and changes in higher cognitive functions such as reward evaluation, executive functions and learning and memory. In parallel, evidence has accumulated that modifiable factors such as obesity and diet impact the gut–brain axis and modulate brain health and cognition through various pathways. Using neuroimaging data from epidemiological studies and randomised clinical trials, we aim to shed light on the underlying mechanisms and to determine both determinants and consequences of obesity and diet at the level of human brain structure and function. We analysed multimodal 3T MRI of about 2600 randomly selected adults (47 % female, 18–80 years of age, BMI 18–47 kg/m2) of the LIFE-Adult study, a deeply phenotyped population-based cohort. In addition, brain MRI data of controlled intervention studies on weight loss and healthy diets acquired in lean, overweight and obese participants may help to understand the role of the gut–brain axis in food craving and cognitive ageing. We find that higher BMI and visceral fat accumulation correlate with accelerated brain age, microstructure of the hypothalamus, lower thickness and connectivity in default mode- and reward-related areas, as well as with subtle grey matter atrophy and white matter lesion load in non-demented individuals. Mediation analyses indicated that higher visceral fat affects brain tissue through systemic low-grade inflammation, and that obesity-related regional changes translate into cognitive disadvantages. Considering longitudinal studies, some, but not all data indicate beneficial effects of weight loss and healthy diets such as plant-based nutrients and dietary patterns on brain ageing and cognition. Confounding effects of concurrent changes in other lifestyle factors or false positives might help to explain these findings. Therefore a more holistic intervention approach, along with open science tools such as data and code sharing, in-depth pre-registration and pooling of data could help to overcome these limitations. In addition, as higher BMI relates to increased head micro-movements during MRI, and as head motion in turn systematically induces image artefacts, future studies need to rigorously control for head motion during MRI to enable valid neuroimaging results. In sum, our results support the view that overweight and obesity are intertwined with markers of brain health in the general population, and that weight loss and plant-based diets may help to promote brain plasticity. Meta-analyses and longitudinal cohort studies are underway to further differentiate causation from correlation in obesity- and nutrition-brain research.

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“…In this regard, alternative methods have been suggested as appropriate dietary regimens, including intermittent energy restriction (IER) as an umbrella term that includes two different subtypes of fasting: intermittent fasting (IF) and time-restricted feeding (TRF) [ 4 ]. Intermittent fasting (IF) involves short periods of marked energy restriction followed by periods of usual caloric intake [ 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intermittent Fasting in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Critical Update of Available Studies

et al. 2023

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Breast cancer (BC) is the most-frequent malignancy amongst women, whereas obesity and excess caloric consumption increase the risk for developing the disease. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the impact of intermittent fasting (IF) on previously diagnosed BC patients, regarding quality of life (QoL) scores during chemotherapy, chemotherapy-induced toxicity, radiological response and BC recurrence, endocrine-related outcomes, as well as IF-induced adverse effects in these populations. A comprehensive search was conducted between 31 December 2010 and 31 October 2022, using the PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Two investigators independently performed abstract screenings, full-text screenings, and data extraction, and the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to evaluate the quality of the selected studies. We screened 468 papers, 10 of which were selected for data synthesis. All patients were female adults whose age ranged between 27 and 78 years. Participants in all studies were women diagnosed with BC of one of the following stages: I, II (HER2−/+), III (HER2−/+), IV, LUMINAL-A, LUMINAL-B (HER2−/+). Notably, IF during chemotherapy was found to be feasible, safe and able to relieve chemotherapy-induced adverse effects and cytotoxicity. IF seemed to improve QoL during chemotherapy, through the reduction of fatigue, nausea and headaches, however data were characterized as low quality. IF was found to reduce chemotherapy-induced DNA damage and augmented optimal glycemic regulation, improving serum glucose, insulin, and IGF-1 concentrations. A remarkable heterogeneity of duration of dietary patterns was observed among available studies. In conclusion, we failed to identify any IF-related beneficial effects on the QoL, response after chemotherapy or related symptoms, as well as measures of tumor recurrence in BC patients. We identified a potential beneficial effect of IF on chemotherapy-induced toxicity, based on markers of DNA and leukocyte damage; however, these results were derived from three studies and require further validation. Further studies with appropriate design and larger sample sizes are warranted to elucidate its potential standard incorporation in daily clinical practice.

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‘For me it's about not feeling like I'm on a diet’: a thematic analysis of women's experiences of an intermittent energy restricted diet to reduce breast cancer risk

Cited by 10 publications

References 31 publications

Optimizing Fertility Treatment With Nutrition Guidance: Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Healthful Nutrition Among Female Cancer Survivors With Fertility Challenges

Optimizing Fertility Treatment With Nutrition Guidance: Exploring Barriers and Facilitators to Healthful Nutrition Among Female Cancer Survivors With Fertility Challenges

Impact of obesity and diet on brain structure and function: a gut–brain–body crosstalk

Intermittent Fasting in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Critical Update of Available Studies

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