As few as five pounds of weight loss can make a significant difference for patients with triple-negative breast cancer, says Rowan Chlebowski, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Among patients following a program to reduce their dietary fat intake, those with estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer had a reduction of death of 36%, while ER- and progesterone receptor (PR)-negative patients had a 54% reduction of death compared to the control group.

Losing even a small amount of weight can impact factors that drive tumor growth like glucose metabolism, inflammatory factors, and diabetes, says Chlebowski.

More research is needed to validate these findings from a scientific standpoint, but because five pounds of weight loss is such a simple change, Chlebowski suggests breast cancer patients put it into practice now.

View more from the 2014 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

Rowan Chlebowski, MD, PhD

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