FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 7, 1998

CONTACT: Laurie Slothower
(916)734-9040

UC DAVIS RESEARCHERS NEED VOLUNTEERS TO STUDY DIET'S EFFECT ON BREAST CANCER RECURRENCE

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center continue to recruit women between the ages of 18 and 70 who have been diagnosed and treated with stages I, II or IIIA breast cancer in the past four years to participate in a study to see if a low-fat, plant-based diet might prevent cancer recurrence. Fifteen hundred women, 300 from the Sacramento area alone, are currently active in the study.

"Up to 30 percent of women with breast cancer will experience a recurrence," explains principal investigator and epidemiologist Mary Haan, an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine. "We're learning more about the way combinations of food can affect the recurrence of cancers."

Women who join the study, known as the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) study will attend one individual and one group meeting to learn more details about the study. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two healthy eating groups and, then, will be expected to tell researchers what they have been eating on a regular basis. Participants will have the opportunity to participate in nutritional support groups and cooking classes and to learn about healthy eating guidelines. In addition, participants will receive individual dietary feedback and can take personal satisfaction in knowing that they are taking an active role in the prevention of breast cancer.

According to Haan, women who enroll in the study also will visit a clinic at UC Davis Medical Center four times over the next five years to be weighed and measured and to provide a small blood sample. Haan says that participants also would need to approve researchers' obtaining copies of their medical records that cover their breast cancer care.

"We're currently in year three of the eight-year study," says Haan, "and we'll continue to recruit women during the next year and a half from the greater Sacramento area, as well as from throughout California, Oregon, Arizona and Texas. Our goal is to have 3,500 women participate study-wide."

Oncologist Sidney Scudder, acting chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and associate professor of medicine at UC Davis Cancer Center, is co-investigator of the study. UC Davis is one of seven sites in California, Oregon, Arizona and Texas participating in the study, which is based at UC San Diego. The program is part of a $13.3 million grant awarded earlier this year by the National Cancer Institute.

For more information about the study or to enroll, contact study coordinator Anne S. Byars at (530)754-WHEL.

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