Cancer as we know is one of the deadliest in the world. Surviving it is a miracle for most but on the other hand it also doesn't always inspire them to eat healthier. According to research, they actually do the opposite. The researchers reported that survivors eat less nutritious food with less fiber and empty calories coompared to the overall population.
The epidemiologist at Tufts University, Fang Fang Zhang, who co-wrote the study published in the journal Cancer, said the results came as a surprise. "Cancer survivors are usually motivated to improve their health, so I think it is remarkable that they are still burdened by a sub-optimal diet," she said.
They asked 2 groups of people and studied their food intake. One was made up of 1,533 cancer survivors and the other was made up of 3,075 individuals who never had cancer. They were matched by age, sex and race and ethnicity.The researchers estimated the quality of their diet using the Healthy Eating Index, which is from 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The scores are as low as zero if the person didn't follow and as high as 100 if you followed completely. After checking each group, they discovered that the cancer survivors had a lower mean score at 47.2 than the non-cancer group 48.3. Cancer survivors also ate less fiber and more refined sugars and fat.
Even if there is a slight difference between the two teams, Zhang said it is still significant to suggest that medical professionals who care for cancer survivors to eat a more nutritious diet especially because they have higher risk of chronic health problems.
"I want to emphasize that poor diet is prevalent in this population, and the chronic disease burden is high," she said. "A small change can potentially have a large impact to a high-risk population," she added.
Among those who once had cancer, the older and educated people were found to have a healthier diet than younger or less educated people. They also compared the diets of people who survived different types of cancer. People who had breast cancer had the healthiest diet, while those who had lung cancer had the worst diet.
The study didn't say anything why the diets of the cancer survivors are worse than those who never had, but added that there can be several reasons. Although she does not have data to support that hypothesis, she said it might be possible that people who had cancer had worse diets than others. Lastly, she cited that having cancer can cause high levels of stress and anxiety, which makes it difficult to prioritize a nutritious diet.
