et
- macrobiotic diet
- overnight fasting
These diets often encourage eating or avoiding certain types of food. There’s no conclusive evidence to show that they reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence.
Special diets can often be very restricting, expensive and can sometimes lead to a lack of nutrients. This may result in other conditions such as anaemia (too few red blood cells in the body), or bone conditions such as osteopenia or osteoporosis.
If you’re thinking about changing your diet or want to find out more about different diets, you may find it helpful to talk to your specialist team or a dietitian.
You may hear about some of the diets below.
The Bristol Whole Life Approach to healthy eating is a set of dietary guidelines for people living with and beyond cancer. The guidelines mainly focus on eating foods that are in their natural state and have not been altered. For example, they suggest:
- eating wholegrain brown rice instead of refined white rice
- including a range of different colour vegetables and fruit in your diet
- animal products permitted only in small amounts
The Bristol Whole Life Approach to healthy eating aims to help people eat healthily and cope better with the physical and emotional impact of cancer. However, there is no evidence that following these recommendations will reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence.
The recommendations were developed by Penny Brohn UK.
Some people with breast cancer are concerned about eating dairy foods and believe that following a dairy-free diet will reduce their risk of recurrence.
In a dairy-free diet, dairy foods are avoided altogether and are replaced with non-dairy alternatives such as soy products, and almond and rice milks.
There’s no conclusive evidence that following a dairy-free diet will reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence. As dairy foods are one of the main sources of calcium it’s still important to include non-dairy foods that contain the calcium the body needs. Find out what foods are high in calcium.
A macrobiotic diet is high in wholegrains and low in fat and protein. There are different types of macrobiotic diets and some are stricter than others. They may also include guidelines on how food is prepared, your lifestyle and environment.
This diet can be strict and is often low in calories, calcium, iron, B vitamins and other nutrients, so may not be suitable and possibly harmful. Speak to your dietitian or specialist team for advice.
Some research has indicated that overnight fasting of 13 or more hours may reduce the risk of recurrence but more research is needed to find out more.
Studies have shown an association between drinking alcohol and breast cancer risk, and some have shown an association between breast cancer and survival rates.
People who’ve had breast cancer are recommended to stay within the NHS guidelines for alcohol intake, which include:
no more than 14 units of alcohol per week for women and men
spreading this amount of drinking over three or more days per week.
You can find out how many units are in your drinks by using an online unit calculator. As a general guide:
- half a pint of average-strength (4%) beer has 1 unit
- a 175ml glass of wine (12.5%) has 2 units
- a single 25ml measure of spirits (40%) has 1 unit
It’s worth bearing in mind that alcohol is also high in calories.
We know smoking causes a range of health conditions. There is emerging evidence that smoking may also affect the risk of breast cancer recurrence but more research is needed to find out more. If you want to stop smoking there are a range of programmes to help. Speak to your GP or practice nurse for advice.
Physical activity can help improve your long-term health, and has been shown to reduce the risk of health conditions such as heart attacks, strokes and some cancers. It may reduce the risk of recurrence but more research is needed to find out more.