Women's Healthy Eating and Living Study

June 6, 2019 updated by: John P. Pierce, University of California, San Diego

Dietary Intervention in Women Who Have Been Treated For Stage I, Stage II, or Stage III Breast Cancer: Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study

RATIONALE: Dietary fats, fruits, vegetables, and fiber may affect the risk of breast cancer recurrence.

PURPOSE: Randomized clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat in women who have been treated for stage I, stage II, or stage III breast cancer.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine whether a diet rich in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat is associated with a longer breast cancer event-free interval in breast cancer survivors. II. Motivate an intervention group of breast cancer survivors to adopt and maintain a dietary pattern that is rich in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat. III. Demonstrate that the intervention can produce significant changes in circulating carotenoid and estrogen biomarkers compared to a healthy control diet. IV. Test whether the probability of a secondary cancer event is associated with change in self-reported dietary intake, circulating carotenoid concentrations, and circulating estrogen concentrations.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to age (under 55 vs 55 and over at time of diagnosis), stage of tumor (stage I and at least 1 cm vs stage II/IIIA), and clinical site. Patients are randomized to one of two healthy dietary regimens: Arm I: Patients are taught to follow a dietary pattern that will produce significant changes in circulating carotenoid and estrogen biomarkers. Arm II: Patients are assigned to follow dietary guidelines established by the National Cancer Institute and the USDA. All patients participate in 24 hour dietary recalls, cooking classes, as well as complete several questionnaires, at baseline and then at 12, 24 or 36, 48, and 72 months; a randomly selected 50% sample participate in recall at 6 months. Patients are followed by telephone every 6 months for an average of 6 years.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 3,000 women will be accrued for this study within 5 years.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

3088

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Arizona
      • Tucson, Arizona, United States, 85724
        • Arizona Cancer Center
    • California
      • La Jolla, California, United States, 92093-0658
        • University of California San Diego Cancer Center
      • Oakland, California, United States, 94611-5400
        • Permanente Medical Group (060)
      • Sacramento, California, United States, 95616
        • University of California Davis School of Medicine
      • Union City, California, United States, 94587
        • Northern California Cancer Center
    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97227-1110
        • Center for Health Research - Portland
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • University of Texas - MD Anderson Cancer Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Women who were diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer within the previous 4 years, and are between the ages of 18-74

Description

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Primary operable stage I (tumors at least 1 cm), stage II, and stage IIIA invasive breast carcinoma Treatment within the past 4 years by total mastectomy and axillary dissection, or breast sparing surgical removal of cancer with clear macroscopic margins and axillary dissection followed by adjuvant breast radiation No evidence of recurrent disease or new breast cancer since completion of initial local treatment confirmed within the past 6 months by physician evaluation, except stage I mastectomy, for which physician evaluation can be within 1 year prior to randomization Hormone receptor status: Not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 to 70 at time of diagnosis Sex: Female Menopausal status: Not specified Performance status: Not specified Life expectancy: At least 10 years (excluding breast cancer) Hematopoietic: Not specified Hepatic: No cirrhosis Renal: Not specified Other: Not pregnant Accessible geographically and by telephone Able to communicate dietary data via 24-hour food recall Able to commit to the intervention schedule No comorbidity requiring a specific diet or taking a medication which contraindicates consuming a high fiber diet (e.g., systemic scleroderma, other digestive malabsorption syndromes, and insulin dependent diabetes) No other primary or recurrent invasive cancer within the past 10 years except nonmelanoma skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: Not specified Chemotherapy: No concurrent chemotherapy Endocrine therapy: No concurrent estrogen replacement therapy, including vaginal estrogen creams Radiotherapy: See Disease Characteristics Surgery: See Disease Characteristics Other: No concurrent enrollment in another clinical trial that has dietary restrictions or endpoints similar to this study

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Intervention
high fiber, high vegetable, low-fat diet
Control
NCI-recommended diet

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Breast Cancer Recurrence
Time Frame: Lifetime
Lifetime

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Mortality
Time Frame: Lifetime
Lifetime

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Study Chair: John P. Pierce, PhD, University of California, San Diego

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

March 1, 1995

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2007

Study Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 1, 1999

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 2, 2004

First Posted (Estimate)

June 3, 2004

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 10, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 6, 2019

Last Verified

June 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UCSD-980919
  • CDR0000066920 (Registry Identifier: PDQ (Physician Data Query))
  • UCSD-WHEL
  • NCI-G99-1508

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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