While living a healthy lifestyle is ideal for everyone, it’s important to be realistic about how much diet and exercise can really change when it comes to ovarian cancer. There’s actually little evidence that diet and exercise may help you live longer. But you being happy CAN improve treatment outcomes. So sometimes it’s better just to live how you like– to enjoy life, eat a delicious meal and relax.
To get more insights about how women with ovarian cancer should manage their diet and exercise regimens, SurvivorNet spoke to Dr. Dana Chase, gynecologic oncologist at Arizona Oncology.
No evidence on benefits of healthy diet and exercise
Read More According to Dr. Chase, there’s very limited evidence that diet and exercise can actually make you live longer if you have ovarian cancer. She says, “We don’t necessarily have proof that eating healthy and exercising is going to make you live longer when you have advanced ovarian cancer.” One hypothesis is that being fit and healthy can help you handle the difficult treatment process and thus live longer, but that theory is unproven, says Chase. “We think that when you feel better, you tolerate treatment better. And when you tolerate treatment better, we think that you have an ability to live longer. That’s a hypothesis,” she explains. For this reason, she tries to shy away from telling her patients to avoid all unhealthy food, because women should be able to enjoy themselves a bit, whether that’s having a glass of wine, some chocolate, or a sugary snack. Treating yourself isn’t necessarily harmful. “I don’t like to make patients feel bad when they want to eat a piece of cake, or when they want to have a popsicle, or they want to have a glass of wine. I try to not make them feel bad that they’re not doing something healthy, because I don’t have proof that something is going to make them die sooner necessarily,” says Chase.
A pointless fad
One particularly enticing fad that cancer patients incorrectly believe will help fight their cancer is a ‘no-sugar diet.‘ And while there has been some research as to the effects of sugar and cancer, the link is dubious at best, and Dr. Chase can recall at least one of her patients who tried a ‘no-sugar diet’ to no avail. “I had a very specific patient say to me: ‘Dr. Chase, I’ve been on this very strict, no-sugar diet for the last eight months. Not even eating a grain of sugar.’ And then her cancer came back. And so in that situation you feel bad that she held back from eating something that potentially brings her joy,” says Chase. As she explains, discussing healthy living is a complicated and complex conversation to be had with patients. Cases like this remind doctors that they should be sensible when making lifestyle recommendations relating to diet and exercise, because ultimately the evidence that there’s any connection relating to living longer for women with ovarian cancer is shaky at best. That’s why SurvivorNet stands by what Dr. Chase is saying: live a little. Have a glass of wine, eat that piece of cake. Enjoy life! While it’s important to be healthy, it’s just as–if not more–important to be happy.
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