“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk”

r cancer prevention. There are reasons to take supplements, but cancer prevention isn't one of them. In some

“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] cancers, some of these supplements can interfere with the action of treatments. They can cut both ways. If exercise were a pill, we'd give it to everyone. As long as you are capable of doing it, that is probably one of the strongest medicines, and it's based on evidence.

Immune benefits seem to come more from high intensity workouts. Specific cancers have specific recommendations.

For example, in colorectal cancer there is strong evidence for five factors that decrease your risk: whole grains, foods containing fiber, dairy products, calcium supplements, and physical activity, and five that increase your risk: red meat, processed meat, alcoholic drinks, adult body fatness, and attained height.

In prostate cancer the only strong evidence is increased risk from adult body fatness, specifically for advanced prostate cancer. There is limited, suggestive evidence that dairy products, diets high in calcium, low plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations (Vitamin E), and low plasma selenium concentrations increase cancer risk. What should an active and engaged patient do?

You can substantially reduce your cancer risk by changing your behavior. About half of people are unaware of strong risk factors like alcohol, obesity, low physical activity, and diet, or that coffee is beneficial. People often think that it's genetics and pesticides and things, but they account for a fairly low proportion of cancers.

The cancer treatments that you receive could be bad for your cancer, but they are also bad for the rest of your body. The more you can do to maintain your resilience, the better off you are. The call is for action, not perfection. The more of these recommendations you follow, the lower your cancer risk, and the better your outcomes. But any of these you address will be beneficial.

How should advanced cancer patients think about adopting lifestyle, nutrition, and exercise guidelines? You can think about cancer like a bathtub which fills up with water (cancer risk). We're all born with a certain amount of water in our cancer bathtub. There's a leaky tap that adds water (cancer risk) over our lifetimes.

Although we can never stop that leaky tap, we can reduce the flow by adopting healthy behaviors and avoiding unhealthy behaviors. How do we know when our bathtub is getting full? We know through diagnostic tests. It’s never too late to adopt healthy behaviors and slow the flow, and it's also never too early. It's pretty difficult to remove the water.

We don't have evidence yet for the reversibility of cancer risk.

“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] What is the evidence for future cancer treatments, especially immunotherapies?

ever too early. It's pretty difficult to remove the water. We don't have evidence yet for the reversibility of cancer risk.

“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] What is the evidence for future cancer treatments, especially immunotherapies? The future of cancer treatment, although it's been very disappointing so far in prostate cancer, is immunotherapy.

The immune system is important because then you're using a system against a system, rather than one tool against one target. Prostate cancer tends to be a very immune cold tumor. The immune system doesn't respond to them. Males, particularly older males, tend to have poor immune systems. A lot of lifestyle factors have an impact on the immune system.

If the immune system is already compromised, then immunotherapy is not going to be able to function. If you're giving immunotherapy as a last-ditch attempt, after you've wrecked somebody's immune system with chemotherapy, the immunotherapy has less of a chance. This is not sci-fi anymore because with melanoma they've shown some really good results with mRNA vaccines.

How should advanced cancer patients make decisions between treatments based on solid, evidence-based research and those that are based on solid scientific theories, but for which there is no randomized clinical trial evidence (and may not be for many years)?

There is a huge difference between what can be recommended at the population level (the predominant role of AICR) versus what can be assessed to be potentially beneficial at the individual level (clinical guidance and patient choice).

Given the complexity of cancer treatment options and the unique context of each case, particularly in advanced disease, being your own advocate and engaging in collective advocacy is hugely valuable. Oncologists are well trained, but it is impossible for one person to assimilate the entire ever-expanding field.

Tumor boards seek to exploit a group to optimize treatment approaches for individual cases, but you are the best advocate for optimal approaches for YOU!

The information and opinions expressed on this website or platform, or during discussions and presentations (both verbal and written) are not intended as health care recommendations or medical advice by Cancer Patient Lab/Prostate Cancer Lab, its principals, presenters, participants, or representatives for any medical treatment, product, or course of action.

You should always consult a doctor about your specific situation before pursuing any health care program, treatment, product or other course of action that might affect your health.

“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] Meeting Notes The information and opinions expressed on this website or platform, or during discussions and presentations (both verbal and written) are not intended as health care recommendations or medical advice by Cancer Patient

style Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] Meeting Notes The information and opinions expressed on this website or platform, or during discussions and presentations (both verbal and written) are not intended as health care recommendations or medical advice by Cancer Patient Lab/Prostate Cancer Lab, its principals, presenters, participants, or representatives for any medical treatment, product, or course of action.

You should always consult a doctor about your specific situation before pursuing any health care program, treatment, product or other course of action that might affect your health.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS cancer, people, evidence, prostate cancer, recommendations, immune system, question, research, diet, exposures, colorectal cancer, factors, chemotherapy, risk factor, studies, exercise, risk, treatment, nigel, beneficial SPEAKERS Nigel Brockton, Rick Stanton, Amit Gattani, Brad Power, Brian McCloskey Brad Power 00:03 Today we're going to have a session with Nigel Brockton talking about research on lifestyle, nutrition, and exercise, and how they can help in cancer treatment.

But before we do that, I want to read our standard disclaimer so that everyone knows that this is not medical advice and that if you say anything, or if you have your camera on, it all will be made public in a Zoom recording and a transcript.

Please note that the information and opinions shared on this website or platform or during this discussion or presentations are not intended as medical advice. It is important to consult with a healthcare professional about your specific situation before making any decisions related to your health.

I like to point out that it's a ChatGPT version for those of you who know about ChatGPT, which took the legal words and made them a little simpler and clearer. Nigel is going to start with a few slides, and then we'll open it up for discussion. Nigel, if you could start by introducing yourself and the story you started telling me it would be perfect.

There's someone named Wendy Fantl who is an ovarian cancer survivor and a scientist at Stanford. When we find people who are cancer survivors themselves, it really gives them a special perspective which is consistent with who we are and what we're up to.

“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] Nigel Brockton 02:09 I realized that there is a slight incongruity between my title and what I talk about because the blurb that we put together talks more about the post diagnosis space which I'm happy to talk about that, but what I'm going to go through in these slides is more about how we arrive at the evidence.

I'm Vice President of Research at the American Institute for Cancer Research. Brad was asking me how I got into this line of work before we went live. I was eight years old when I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist.

o go through in these slides is more about how we arrive at the evidence. I'm Vice President of Research at the American Institute for Cancer Research. Brad was asking me how I got into this line of work before we went live. I was eight years old when I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist. I stuck with that single mindedly until I had a degree in marine biology.

But on the way to getting a degree in marine biology at 18, I was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma in the soft tissue of my jaw. This was in 1989 when there was zero information about cancer. In fact, people wouldn't even say the word “cancer”. And it's quite amazing to see the societal change that I've lived through.

Even between 1989 to 1992 when I had my recurrence, people had started to be able to say the word "cancer," but it wasn't common. I was working in a bar, or an English pub, and I was reading a book on chemotherapy. In those days, there were no layperson books. This was a book for doctors. Somebody asked me to put the book away because it had the word "cancer" on it.

The fact that we now have these forums to have these kinds of discussions currently shows there's almost too much information. One of the roles for AICR is to cut through to what we know. There's been some pretty massive changes. I had a recurrence, and I went through nine months of intensive treatment. I've been cancer free since I finished treatment in March of 1993.

This will be 30 years next month. I get that look from oncologists when I tell them that I had an Ewing's and a recurrence that says, "What the hell are you doing here?

“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] survivors. I have no disclosures to report. Who of you are familiar with the American Institute for Cancer Research before I popped on your radar? No? Good. That means I'm talking to a new audience and sharing our message.

“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] I've been following AICR since I started my PhD in 1997 when the first expert report was published. Certainly, from a research and clinical perspective, AICR WCF (World Cancer Fund) is seen as the global experts on diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer prevention survival.

I'm not sure how many of you followed this back in February when they relaunched the Cancer Moonshot? I was frustrated. I'm totally supportive of the Moonshot, but I was frustrated when President Biden said, "We know cancer is a disease that we have few good ways to prevent." Part of what I'm going to present here is that we have lots of ways to prevent it.

“Scientific Research on Lifestyle Choices to Reduce Your Cancer Risk” (Nigel Brockton) [#40] Here's a little bit of a history, or context, in terms of AICR. AICR was 40 years old in 2022. The