Dietary supplement use by individuals living with and beyond breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer: A cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Dietary supplements (DSs) are not recommended for the prevention of cancer recurrence. Although DS use is common in individuals living with and beyond cancer, its associations with beliefs about reduced cancer recurrence risk and demographic and health behaviors are unclear. METHODS: Adults (18 years old or older) who had been diagnosed with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer were recruited through National Health Service sites in Essex and London. Participants completed a mailed survey and telephone or online 24-hour dietary recalls (MyFood24). Supplement use was collected during the dietary recalls. Associations between DS use and demographics, health behaviors, and beliefs about DSs and cancer were explored. RESULTS: Nineteen percent of 1049 individuals believed that DSs were important for the reduction of cancer recurrence risk, and 40% of individuals reported DS use. DS use was positively associated with being female (odds ratio [OR], 2.48; confidence interval [CI], 1.72-3.56), meeting 5-a-day fruit and vegetable recommendations (OR, 1.36; CI, 1.02-1.82), and believing that DSs were important for reducing cancer recurrence risk (OR, 3.13; CI, 2.35-4.18). DS use was negatively associated with having obesity (OR, 0.58; CI, 0.38-0.87). The most commonly taken DSs overall were fish oils (taken by 13%). Calcium with or without vitamin D was the most common DS taken by individuals with breast cancer (15%). CONCLUSIONS: DS use by individuals living with and beyond cancer is associated with demographic factors and health behaviors. A belief that DSs reduce the risk of cancer recurrence is common and positively associated with DS use. There is a need for health care professionals to provide advice about DS use and cancer recurrence risk.

Perceiving a need for dietary change in adults living with and beyond cancer: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Many people living with and beyond cancer (LWBC) do not meet dietary recommendations. To implement a healthier diet, people LWBC must perceive a need to improve their diet. METHODS: Participants included people diagnosed with breast, prostate or colorectal cancer in the UK. Two binary logistic regression models were conducted with perceived need for dietary change as the outcome (need to improve vs. no need). Predictor variables included demographic and clinical characteristics, receipt of dietary advice, and either body mass index (BMI) or adherence to seven relevant World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) dietary recommendations. RESULTS: The sample included 5835 responses. Only 31% perceived a need to improve their diet. Being younger (odds ratio [OR] 0.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 94-0.95), female (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.15-1.53), not of white ethnicity (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.48-2.27), not married/cohabiting (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.16-1.52) and having received dietary advice (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.43-1.86) was associated with an increased odds of perceiving a need to improve diet. This association was also seen for participants with two or more comorbidities (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.09-1.57), those not meeting the recommendations for fruit and vegetables (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.41-0.55), fat (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.58-0.77), and sugar (OR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.75-0.98) in the dietary components model and those who had a higher BMI (OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.32-1.77) in the BMI model. CONCLUSIONS: Most of this sample of people LWBC did not perceive a need to improve their diet. More research is needed to understand the reasons for this and to target these reasons in dietary interventions.

Eating for pleasure or profit: the effect of incentives on children's enjoyment of vegetables.

Parents commonly use rewards to encourage children to eat healthfully, but this practice remains controversial because rewards are suspected of undermining children's intrinsic motivation. A cluster-randomized trial examined children's acceptance of a disliked vegetable over 12 daily taste exposures. These exposures were paired with a tangible reward, a social reward, or no reward, and the findings were compared with the results from a no-treatment control condition. Liking and intake of the vegetable were assessed in a free-choice consumption task at preintervention, postintervention, 1 month after intervention, and 3 months after intervention. Liking increased more in the three intervention conditions than in the control condition, and there were no significant differences between the intervention conditions. These effects were maintained at follow-up. Children in both reward conditions increased consumption, and these effects were maintained for 3 months; however, the effects of exposure with no reward became nonsignificant by 3 months. These results indicate that external rewards do not necessarily produce negative effects and may be useful in promoting healthful eating.