Dietary intake and oxidative stress in breast cancer: before and after treatments

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate changes in dietary intake, anthropometric parameters and markers of oxidative stress in 40 women who under- went surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy for breast cancer. Methods: Pretreatment and post-treatment measure- ments included data collected through a food frequency questionnaire, weight and height to calculate the body mass index (BMI) and oxidative stress markers assessed from blood reduced glutathione (GSH), serum antioxi- dant capacity (AC), plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), serum lipid hydroperoxides (LH) and plasma carbonyls. Differences were compared using paired Student's t-test or paired Wilcoxon's test. Results: A significant increase (P < 0.05) in the intake of the food groups: meat and eggs, dairy products, beans, oils and fats, as well as food from the subgroups: red meat, milk and other dairy products rich in fat, fruit rich in vitamin C and vegetable fats was found after treat- ments. There was a significant increase in body weight (P < 0.05), BMI (P < 0.05), levels of TBARS (P < 0.0001), LH (P < 0.005) and carbonyls (P < 0.0001) and a significant decrease of levels of AC (P < 0.005) and GSH (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Breast cancer diagnosis and treatments were associated with dietary intake changes and increased body weight, BMI and oxidative stress. These potential changes have important implications for pre- ventive nutrition counseling. (Nutr Hosp. 2011;26:737-744) DOI:10.3305/nh.2011.26.4.5067