The Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) trial, was based on the premise that plant-derived foods contain anti-cancer chemicals.
The programme consists of telephone counseling, cooking classes and newsletters that promote the daily intake of 5 vegetable servings plus 16 ounces of vegetable juice; 3 fruit servings; 30 grams of fiber; and 15 to 20 percent off calories from fat.
Dr. John P. Pierce and his colleagues designed the diet and from the period between 1995 and 2000, they enrolled more than 3,000 women for a trial who were previously treated for breast cancer and then monitored them until 2006.
The women were randomly assigned to either the diet intervention group or a comparison group and the researchers found the special diet did not prevent breast cancer from returning and it did not improve survival.
Approximately 17 percent of patients in each group saw the return of their cancer and about 10 percent in each group died during follow-up.
It appears that though a healthy diet and regular exercise may give breast cancer survivors an extra boost, eating more than the daily recommended intake of five fruits and vegetables did not provide any added benefit.
After reviewing the findings, Lawrence Cheskin, M.D. said, There's surprisingly little in the way of studies to draw any hard and fast conclusions. Cheskin is director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center and associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. He was not involved with the review.
Low glycemic index diets can be effective for weight management, Cheskin said, but the success of low glycemic diets lies with an individual's willingness to comply with its nutritional principles.
There aren't many people who need to lose weight who are willing to eat lots of vegetables and whole grains. If they did, they wouldn't have a weight problem in the first place, Cheskin said.
Nevertheless, he said, choosing foods low on the glycemic index does have value for overweight or obese people who want to lose weight.
It uses a lot of the generally healthful principles, such as eating lots of vegetables and high fiber and avoiding very energy-dense foods that are high in simple sugars and simple carbohydrates, Cheskin said.
Thomas, DE, Elliott EJ, Baur L. Low glycaemic index or low glycaemic load diets for overweight and obesity. (Review). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 3.
The Cochrane Collaboration is an international nonprofit, independent organization that produces and disseminates systematic reviews of health care interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions. Visit cochrane for more information.
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