Amy H. Comander, MD, a medical oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, told The ASCO Post that the findings will clearly help her in counseling patients. “I am excited to be able to discuss the study with my patients,” she said.

“My patients tend to be highly motivated, always on the Internet searching for the next diet or supplement that can help lower their risk for recurrence,” she said. “For those patients, I am already telling them to maintain a healthy weight, limit excessive alcohol consumption, and follow the CDC’s general recommendation to exercise for 150 minutes a week. Now, particularly for the high-risk [estrogen receptor]-negative group, I can tell patients that we have data from a large randomized clinical trial indicating that if they can adhere to a low-fat diet for 5 years and lose 5 pounds, this potentially can improve their survival. Although these data are from an exploratory analysis that merits confirmation, it is a good answer for when patients ask ‘what else can I do?’ If validated, this is a particularly striking effect for our highest-risk breast cancer patients.” ■

Disclosure: Dr. Comander reported no potential conflicts of interest.