Leading a healthy lifestyle may lower childhood cancer survivors' risk of developing the metabolic syndrome, says a study.
According to researchers, children with cancer and adults who survived childhood cancer should be educated about how their diet and certain behaviors could affect their health in the future.
"These findings are important because they indicate that adults who were treated for cancer as children have the opportunity to influence their own health outcomes," said one of the researchers, Kirsten Ness of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Lifestyle had a greater impact on the likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome than risk factors associated with childhood cancer treatment, including cranial irradiation.
"This is good news for the nation's growing population of adult survivors of childhood cancer," said corresponding author Kirsten Ness, Ph.D., an associate member of the St. Jude Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control. "This suggests that if you maintain a healthy lifestyle by staying active and eating a diet that is low in fat, sugar and salt and rich in fruit and vegetables you should be able to influence whether or not you develop metabolic syndrome."
Females who did not follow the guidelines were 2.4 and males were 2.2 times more likely to have the metabolic syndrome than those who followed the guidelines.
"In addition, adopting a lifestyle that includes maintaining a healthy body weight, regular physical activity, and a diet that includes fruits and vegetables and that limits refined sugars, excessive alcohol, red meat, and salt has potential to prevent development of the metabolic syndrome," said Ness.
The study appeared online in the journal CANCER.
