Breast cancer patients might have a powerful incentive to avoid gaining weight: better odds of surviving the disease.
New research suggests that for every 11 pounds a woman gains after breast cancer is diagnosed, the chances of it proving to be fatal go up 14 percent.
The study is by no means definitive, but it gives the strongest evidence yet that controlling weight may be especially important after breast cancer emerges.
"There was a significant trend between increasing levels of weight gain and higher mortality," said Hazel Nichols, a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Lifestyle factors, the things you incorporate after a breast cancer diagnosis such as diet and exercise, do show potential to influence survival."
Nichols led the study and reported results Friday at an American Association for Cancer Research conference in Philadelphia.
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