Diet and Exercise Linked to Increased Childhood Cancer Survival Rates

Research has shown that children who are obese when they begin chemotherapy for leukemia are more than twice as likely to have cancer cells remaining after one month of treatment—one of the strongest predictors of poor survival rates. Compared to children of a healthy weight, overweight children in treatment also have an increased chance of relapse. A new study published in Blood Advances found that even modest changes in diet and exercise can greatly increase survival of children being treated for the most common childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

In the clinical trial, conducted at the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, personalized diet and exercise plans were created for children and adolescents newly diagnosed with leukemia. Researchers found that patients who reduced caloric intake by at least 10% and began a modest exercise regimen were about 70% less likely to have remaining cancer cells in their bone marrow after one month of chemotherapy compared to previously treated children who did not have a diet and exercise intervention.

A secondary benefit found among children following the lower-fat plans was decreased insulin resistance and increased levels of adiponectin, a hormone that helps regulate glucose in the body. These findings open the door for use of diet and exercise to improve outcomes for other types of cancer.

“Changing diet and exercise made the chemotherapy work better, that's the big news of this study,” said the senior author of the paper, Steven Mittelman, MD, PhD. Dr. Mittelman, who is the chief of pediatric endocrinology at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, believes continued research into understanding the mechanisms behind these findings will lead to more effective interventions in the future.