A study found that a low-calorie diet and a moderate exercise program can dramatically improve survival outcomes for children and teens diagnosed with the most common childhood cancer – acute lymphoblastic leukemia, UCLA and Children researchers announced Thursday Los Angeles Hospital.
The researchers said they found that patients who reduced their calorie intake by 10% or more and adopted a moderate exercise program immediately after their diagnosis were, on average, 70% less likely to have Persistent leukemia cells after a month of chemotherapy than those who do not follow the diet and exercise regimen.
“We tried a very gentle diet because it was the first time we used it, as the first month of treatment is so difficult for patients and families,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Steven Mittelman, head of pediatric endocrinology at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and a member of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “But even with these slight changes in diet and exercise, the intervention was extremely effective in reducing the chance of having detectable leukemia in the bone marrow.”
Mittleman said researchers hoped the intervention would improve outcomes, but he had no idea it would be as effective.
“We really can’t add more toxic chemotherapies than the intense treatment phase, but this is an intervention that probably won’t have any negative or side effects. In fact, we hope it can even reduce the toxicities caused by chemotherapy,” he said.
In a clinical trial at CHLA, researchers worked with dietitians and physiotherapists to create personalized 28-day interventions for 40 young people between the ages of 10 and 21 who were recently diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The interventions were designed to reduce participants ’calorie intake by a minimum of 10% to reduce both fat gain and muscle mass loss, while the physical activity component included a target level of 200%. minutes per week of moderate exercise.
He marked the first trial to test a diet and exercise intervention to improve the outcomes of the treatment of childhood cancer, according to the research director and lead author of Dr. Etan Orgel, director of the Medical Supportive Care Service at CHLA’s Institute for Cancer and Blood Diseases, called it “an exciting proof of concept, which can have big implications for other cancers, too.” .
The approach will then be tested in a multicenter randomized trial to be launched later this year, the researchers said.
Other study authors included Jiyoon Kim and Gang Li of UCLA; Celia Framson, Rubi Buxton, David Freyer and Matthew Oberley of CHLA, Weili Sun of City of Hope, Jonathan Tucci of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Christina Dieli-Conwright of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
The results of the study were published in the Journal of Hematology of the American Society.