Importance of Nutrition and Exercise in Cancer Recovery

By Colin E. Champ, MD, CSCS – Radiation Oncologist

A cancer diagnosis can be devastating, and the treatment often makes patients feel fatigued and unable to carry on with their typical daily routines. Although it may seem counterintuitive, evidence shows that exercise during and after treatment can fight this fatigue and increase energy levels and immune function. Nutrition also plays a key role in recovery as well as improving overall health and reducing the risk of cancer recurrence.

Studies on Specific Cancer and
Exercise therapy

Prostate Cancer
Both duration and intensity of exercise has been shown to reduce the risk of death in prostate cancer patients. Additionally, men with prostate cancer who are active live significantly longer. This was shown in a study of over 2,000 men with prostate cancer assessed for nearly two decades.1 Men who walked 90 or more minutes per week at a brisk pace saw their risk of dying cut in half when compared to those men who did not walk or did so at a very slow pace. Most notably, men who engaged in three or more hours of vigorous activity had a 61% lower risk of dying from their prostate cancer when compared to those men who engaged in less than one hour of vigorous exercise per week. Finally, men who exercised vigorously before and after their diagnosis had the lowest risk of dying from their prostate cancer.

When we think of vigorous exercise, we often think of intense exercise like resistance training with weights. Men with prostate cancer who engage in resistance training during radiation therapy experience fewer side effects like fatigue and urinary changes.2 Resistance training also increases strength and function while improving body composition (i.e., more muscle and less fat) in men with prostate cancer.3

Along these lines, even briskness matters when considering activity levels, especially in regards to walking. Three or more hours of “brisk” walking per week seemed to be key, with this amount of activity correlating with a nearly 60% reduced risk of prostate cancer progression.4 This study also found that briskness may have even been more important than duration. Intensity seems to be important in many of these studies, and most of us should engage in a mixture of intense activity and walking.

Yet, any kind of safe activity may be beneficial. Other studies reveal that men who walk or ride a bike for 20 or more minutes per day or exercise for at least an hour per week will live longer after their prostate cancer diagnosis. The same study revealed that men with prostate cancer who perform household work for an hour or more per day live longer overall.

Breast Cancer
Over a dozen studies have revealed that exercise significantly improves quality of life in breast cancer patients.5 It also significantly improves physical function of women with breast cancer and their peak oxygen consumption, while reducing their fatigue. Women who engage in both aerobic and resistance exercise – again that mix of activities – with weights soon after their breast cancer treatment experience large health-related improvements.6 They also experience these improvements much faster than those women who wait to start exercising.

However, women may see the best improvement of their overall physical function, strength, muscle mass, and fat loss by engaging in resistance exercise, particularly a program that involves specific exercises and movements observed by strength coaches to maximize benefits.7 Recent studies reveal that these body composition improvements may be directly related to improved outcomes after breast cancer treatment.8

Cancer and Exercise
Studies have already shown exercise to be as useful as medications for the prevention of coronary heart disease and diabetes and potentially better than medications for patients who have experienced a stroke.9 If exercise, a free treatment without side effects, can do the same for cancer patients, isn’t it time to put that into widespread practice?

Nutrition
Many dietary changes appear to help treat, fight, and prevent cancer in preclinical studies. These studies reveal that calorie restriction and intermittent fasting work synergistically with doses of radiation therapy to kill cancer cells and slow tumor growth by decreasing several metabolic pathways heavily related to certain foods, like processed carbohydrates that profoundly increase the hormone insulin.

Diet focused on whole foods, like dairy and meat from well-raised animals, rich in plants, leafy greens, colorful vegetables, nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, wild-caught seafood, pasture-raised-organic eggs, and berries is optimal. Avoiding chemical-laden, processed foods and fast food is critical for your body and brain and for fighting off cancer, aiding recovery and supporting survivorship.

Cancer treatment is no walk in the park. It is clearly a physically and emotionally taxing time for men and women alike. However, whether it is during treatment or after, maybe we should take more walks in the park — and vigorous ones at that.

Inspire Exercise Medicine
Inspire Exercise Medicine is focused exclusively on supporting cancer patients on the road to regaining their health with oncologist-defined, evidence-based treatment plans for nutrition and exercise in support of their overall health and wellness.

A significant part of the Inspire Exercise Medicine space is dedicated to physical, monitored exercise programs to maximally increase strength, function, and body composition with state-of-the-art exercise equipment, specifically selected for the cancer patient.

Dr. Colin Champ, MD, CSCS
Dr. Colin Champ, MD, CSCS is a radiation oncologist and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with board certifications in radiation oncology and integrative and holistic medicine. Dr. Champ’s research interests include the prevention and treatment of cancer with lifestyle modification, including exercise and dietary modification.

Inspire Exercise Medicine
239.429.0800
InspireExerciseMedicine.com
3555 Kraft Road, Suite 130, Naples, FL 34105

 

References:
1. Richman EL, Kenfield SA, Stampfer MJ, Paciorek A, Carroll PR, Chan JM. Physical activity after diagnosis and risk of prostate cancer progression: data from the cancer of the prostate strategic urologic research endeavor. Cancer Res. 2011;71(11):3889-3895.
2. Schumacher O, Luo OH, Taaffe DR, Galvão DA, Tang C, Chee C, Spry N, Newton RU. Effects of Exercise During Radiation Therapy on Physical Function and Treatment-Related Side Effects in Men With Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2021 Nov 1;111(3):716-731.
3. Lopez P, Taaffe DR, Newton RU, Galvão DA, Resistance Exercise Dosage in Men with Prostate Cancer: Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-regression. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021 Mar 1;53(3):459-469.
4. Bonn SE, Sjölander A, Lagerros YT, et al. Physical activity and survival among men diagnosed with prostate cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2015;24(1):57-64.
5. McNeely ML, Campbell KL, Rowe BH, Klassen TP, Mackey JR, Courneya KS. Effects of exercise on breast cancer patients and survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis. CMAJ. 2006;175(1):34-41.
6. Milne HM, Wallman KE, Gordon S, Courneya KS. Effects of a combined aerobic and resistance exercise program in breast cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trial. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2008;108(2):279-288.
7. Rosenberg J, Hyde PN, Yancy WS, Ford KM, Champ CE. Quantity of resistance exercise for breast cancer patients: does the dose match the objective? J Strength Cond Res. 2021;35(5):1467–76.
8. Caan BJ, Cespedes Feliciano CM, Prado CM, Alexeeff S, Kroenke CH, Bradshaw C, Quesenberry CP, Weltzien EK, Castillo AL, Olobatuyi TA, Chen WY, Association of Muscle and Adiposity Measured by Computed Tomography With Survival in Patients With Nonmetastatic Breast Cancer. JAMA Oncol. 2018;4(6):798-804.
9. Naci H, Ioannidis JPA. Comparative effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions on mortality outcomes: metaepidemiological study. BMJ. 2013;347(oct01_1):f5577..