Researchers Seek To Identify, Challenge Barriers To Behavior Change

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 09 Nov 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Now that there is convincing evidence that changes in everyday behaviors can reduce the chances of cancer, a panel of leading scientists met today to discuss the barriers to behavior change.

The panel on behavior change and cancer was part of the Annual Research Conference on Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer, hosted by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) in Washington, DC.

Changing Behaviors: Many Theories

John P. Foreyt, PhD, from Baylor College of Medicine led the morning's discussion by reviewing six specific theories of successful long-term dietary and lifestyle change. These strategies offer health educators different models for motivating healthy behaviors, and each are founded on slightly different sets of assumptions about why people do what they do.

According to Dr. Foreyt, the model called cognitive behavior modification - which focuses the individual on the present, and on learning what triggers specific destructive behaviors and inner thoughts - has proven the most effective for treating obesity and related disorders.

Lowering the Barriers to Dietary Change

Cheryl L. Rock, PhD, RD of the University of California, reviewed barriers to dietary change and physical activity for breast cancer patients and survivors. She presented data from the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study, in which participants followed diets high in vegetables, fruit and fiber and low in fat. So far, the study has determined, among several other findings, that a healthy dietary pattern is not associated with an oft-cited barrier to behavior change: expensiveness. Women following the healthy diet did not increase their household grocery bills.

Rock also presented interim findings in the Survivors' Health and Physical Exercise (SHAPE) study, which suggest that participants involved in cognitive-behavioral therapy lower their body weight, waist circumference, and percent body fat.

Feed the Children, Make the Adult

R. Alexandra Goldbohm, PhD, of TNO Quality of Life explained that nutrition during youth, though difficult to measure retrospectively, might be important for cancer prevention later in life. The most important pathway is probably through the prevention of (adult) overweight, the roots of which lie in dietary behavior developed during youth.

One Size May Not Fit All

Laurence N. Kolonel, PhD, from the University of Hawaii presented data from the Multiethnic Cohort Study (MEC), which examines the relationship of diet and weight to cancer risk among five ethnic groups: African Americans, Japanese Americans, whites, Latinos, and Native Hawaiians.

Within the MEC, different dietary patterns and rates of obesity are seen among the various ethnic subgroups. These findings strongly suggest that dietary and related interventions to reduce cancer risk must be tailored to individual ethnic groups for greater effectiveness.

Beyond Diet: Lowering Breast Cancer Risk among High-Risk Populations

In the US, approximately 182,400 women will develop breast cancer in 2008. But trials that have looked exclusively at diet's role in breast cancer - specifically those focused on increased fruit and vegetable intake and decreasing fat intake - have reached mixed conclusions.

Tanya Agurs-Collins, PhD, RD from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health discussed these results and outlined the need for interventions targeted to the needs of high risk population groups.

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is the cancer charity that fosters research on the relationship of nutrition, physical activity and weight management to cancer risk, interprets the scientific literature and educates the public about the results. It has contributed more than $86 million for innovative research conducted at universities, hospitals and research centers across the country. AICR has published two landmark reports that interpret the accumulated research in the field, and is committed to a process of continuous review. AICR also provides a wide range of educational programs to help millions of Americans learn to make dietary changes for lower cancer risk. Its award-winning New American Plate program is presented in brochures, seminars and on its website, http://www.aicr.org. AICR is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International.

American Institute for Cancer Research