Aug 15, 2007 11:20 am US/Eastern
Red Meat Diet Harmful To Colon Cancer Patients
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Doctors advise reducing the amount of red meat and fatty foods in the diet in the battle against colon cancer.
AP
More than 30,000 Americans will be diagnosed with stage three colon cancer this year, a stage in which the cancer has already moved into the lymph nodes. A new study reveals that after treatment, diet could play a major role in keeping that cancer at bay.
John Coughlin has always been strong and fit, a strength that was invaluable when a colonoscopy revealed he had stage three colon cancer.
"I went through six weeks of concurrent radiation and chemotherapy. In December of that year I had major surgery to remove the lower part of my colon and that was followed by six months of weekly chemotherapy," Coughlin says.
After that, Coughlin would do a lot to stay healthy. It turns out, however, what he eats -- or doesn't eat -- could really play a major part in keeping healthy.
"It's not really increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables, but really trying to reduce the amount of red meat intake and fatty foods and sugary, 'desserty' foods," said Dr. Jeffrey Meyerhardt of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
That high fat and red meat-heavy diet is called a "western pattern diet." Researchers looked at it in colon cancer patients. Their findings appear in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Stage three colon cancer patients who ate high amounts of a western pattern diet were more likely to have recurrent cancer, or even to die, compared to patients who ate lower amounts.
"People who have a higher western pattern diet have an increased risk for recurrence but that doesn't mean people who have very little of a western pattern diet have no chance for recurrence," Meyerhardt said.
The study says patients should eat the way Coughlin does: lots of fish, chicken, brown rice, and less western pattern foods, like red meat.
"To cut down from one steak a week to one steak a month is not a big deal," Coughlin said.
Compared to what he went through just to survive colon cancer, it should be nothing at all.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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