Dr. Ligibel Discusses Lifestyle Intervention in Breast Cancer

Jennifer Ligibel, MD, senior physician, Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses lifestyle intervention in the treatment of patients with breast cancer.

In recent years, the approach to breast cancer treatment has become more personalized, says Ligibel. It is likely that lifestyle interventions like diet changes will also not be one-size-fits-all approach moving forward. There is work going on to determine how these lifestyle changes impact certain people differently. This can consist of physiological differences, and account for patients who have a higher level of systemic inflammation, or metabolic derangement with different insulin levels.

Ligibel says that her work is trying to identify who may be most likely to benefit from a particular lifestyle change. More work needs to be done to understand these factors. Much of the work that has been done with lifestyle changes like diet and exercise in breast cancer focuses on how they relate to the risk of recurrence. Dietary factors are not as consistent as exercise, which if done regularly, can lower risk of breast cancer recurrence.