Many breast cancer patients are aware of the positive health outcomes associated with good nutrition and exercise but putting this knowledge into practice isn’t always the easiest task.
Symptoms from treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy can make it difficult to carry out healthy lifestyle interventions, despite evidence showing diet and exercise can often improve treatment outcomes and long-term health.
It’s a cycle that Dr Cindy Tan, an early career researcher and dietitian, believes can be addressed with the use of supportive care in cancer survivorship.
A 2025 Clinical Fellow with Breast Cancer Trials, Dr Tan is working on a project looking into understanding the barriers and enablers for breast cancer survivors to join a lifestyle intervention.
“We often think that once patients finish treatment, they can go [back to their normal lives], but we know from research, that is not the case,” Dr Tan tells Women’s Agenda. “A lot of people have symptoms, side effects from the treatments and psychological impact.”
Dr Tan says “there is a lot of research having shown that healthy eating, a balanced diet, staying physically active and staying within a healthy weight range” can improve patient outcomes but that this doesn’t make the advice “easy to adhere to”.
External factors can often cause challenges for patients trying to follow this health advice, Dr Tan says, such as a mum needing to buy foods for the household that the kids will eat, whether or not it’s considered ‘healthy’.
The stress and impact of breast cancer treatment on the body can also make it hard for patients to maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine, as Dr Tan says many women gain a lot of weight during treatment time.
“We know that there are a few factors [for this], basically for many people, once they’ve been diagnosed with cancer and are going through treatments, a lot of things get put on hold. Many people have shown to become quite inactive during the treatment time,” she says.
“They eat quite differently, and for some people it’s a very emotional period, and we know that comfort eating can be one way of dealing with stress.”
This is why Dr Tan is focused on finding out what support and interventions breast cancer patients need to successfully implement research-backed health information into their lifestyle, despite the challenges that treatment may bring.
Dr Tan has more than 16 years of clinical experience working as a dietician in the acute hospital setting. Since completing her PhD, she has continued to work as a senior dietitian and is a post-doctorate research fellow at the University of Sydney.
“My ultimate goal is to create a pathway for women who have to go through the [cancer] treatments unfortunately, to really offer them the opportunity to take part in lifestyle intervention,” says Dr Tan.
While every patient has different needs, Dr Tan and her team are working to find what kind of structured program can support most breast cancer patients, including those who may come from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
“I would like to see all breast cancer patients receive appropriate nutrition information and be physically active from the beginning of their journey, rather than as an afterthought,” she says, noting that some people simply “don’t know where to start”.
“Many people want to make some changes, they just don’t know where to start, so having a place where they can sign up for a program, or even just a peer support group, [would be impactful].”
Once cancer patients are supported to get started eating well and exercising, Dr Tan says it often gets easier to stay within a cycle of healthy habits.
“If you live in an environment where everyone is talking about the benefits of healthy eating and exercise, even if you’re not keen, it will somehow influence a person’s behavior,” she says, adding that “when it comes to behavior change, things take time” and they don’t “just change overnight”.
“Usually people who do more exercise, they have become more health conscious and then they pay more attention to what they eat, or vice versa,” says Dr Tan about this diet and exercise cycle.
Even longer term, Dr Tan hopes to uncover how structured programs can support lifestyle interventions that would benefit everyone’s quality of life.
“A healthy lifestyle message is not new. I think since kids, we’ve been taught that it’s important, but everyone’s different,” she says. “We just want to address some of the issues or barriers. If we can make it easier, then that would be great.”
Join Breast Cancer Trials on Wednesday 23rd July , from 5:30-7:00pm (AEST), for a free online Q&A, where a panel of experts will explore innovative new research (including Dr Tan’s project) that is helping to reshape patient support and improve patient quality of life during breast cancer treatment. The session will be moderated by author and journalist Annabel Crabb. To register click here.