engleski

Dietary habits and use of dietary supplements among female cancer patients

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death globally. Breast cancer has the highest incidence and mortality rate among female population in the world and in Croatia. There are many factors believed to affect cancer prevention and development, one of important is lifestyle including diet and dietary habits. The aim of this work was to determine dietary habits and dietary supplements intake among female cancer patients. For this purpose, dietary questionnaire was designed and conducted among 190 women, cancer patients, members of the Association of women affected by cancer EVERYTHING for HER. Most women surveyed had breast cancer (86%), average age 52.9 ± 0.9 years. According to body mass index, 40.5% of the patients were overweight while 8.4% were obese, and 2.1% undernourished. Dietary habits improvement after cancer diagnosis reported 85.3% of surveyed patients what was self-assessed by the patients and specially referred to fruit, vegetable and red meat intake. After the diagnosis, 77.9% patients consumed fruits, with 41.9% consuming more than 2 servings, and 98.4% consumed vegetables, with 72.1% consuming more than 2 servings, every day. Red meat was consumed by 22.6% of patients consuming meat while only 4.7% of patients stopped eating meat after diagnosis. Dietary supplements were used by 76.3% of patients, mainly probiotics, vitamin D and C, with boosting of the immune system as the main reason for use.

carcinoma ; breast cancer ; dietary habits ; dietary supplements ; diet improvement

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