Most cancer survivors fall short of 5 a day

If dread disease can't change the way we live and eat, then the campaign to promote fruit and vegetable consumption does indeed face steep challenges. Consider that a diagnosis of cancer isn't enough motivation for most people - four out of five, this research says - to consume recommended daily levels of fruits and vegetables. From Medpage comes this summary:

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- Many cancer survivors don't follow healthy lifestyles, according to epidemiologists here.
They are more likely to be non-smokers (82.6% to 91.6%) than adults in the general population (79.5%) but not more prone to exercise to recommended levels or to consume healthy diets, defined as having at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
In a study of more than 9,000 patients with a history of prostate, breast, colorectal, bladder, uterine cancer, or melanoma, 80.9% to 85.2% were not following the dietary recommendation of eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, Chris Blanchard, Ph.D., of Dalhousie University here, and colleagues reported in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
And only 29.6% to 47.3% were getting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-strenuous exercise or 60 minutes of strenuous physical activity a week, they said.
Only about one in 20 patients (3.6% to 5.8%) was following all three recommendations (smoking, diet, and exercise), and 7.3% to 12.5% were not following any.This is concerning, the researchers said, because health-related quality of life increased significantly (P<0.001)>
The fact that most cancer survivors are not making the lifestyle changes necessary to improve their long-term outcomes illustrates the need to find ways to promote adherence to recommendations like those from the American Cancer Society, the researchers said.
Also, past studies have shown that physical activity is linked to health-related quality of life in cancer survivors, but more information is needed on the relationship between quality of life, smoking, and the consumption of recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, they said.Patients with a history of breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer who ate the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables and who did not smoke had significantly higher health-related quality-of-life scores than those who did not meet those criteria (P<0.05).>Melanoma survivors had higher health-related quality-of-life scores if they followed the fruits and vegetables recommendation (P<0.05),>