Effect of an individualized food‐based nutritional intervention on serum vitamin A, E, and carotenoids concentrations in recently diagnosed breast cancer patients

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of neoplasm among Mexican women. The antineoplastic treatment can affect the patient’s nutritional status; especially micronutrients, such as retinol, carotenoids and α‐tocopherol. The objective was to evaluate the effect of a food‐based individualized nutrition intervention on the retinol, carotenoid and α‐tocopherol serum concentrations of recently diagnosed BC patients, at baseline and 6mo after the intervention. This is a pretest‐posttest study in women with a recent diagnosis of invasive ductal/lobular carcinoma of the breast (clinical stage I–III). The individualized nutrition intervention was developed upon the nutritional assessment of participating women; adjusting the dietary plan on their total energy expenditure, and following the WCRF/AICR guidelines, adapting 1.5 g/kg/d of protein intake, 5–9 servings of fruits and vegetables and a caloric restriction (500–1000 kcal/d) when applicable (BMI ≥25 kg/m 2 ). Baseline and final measurements include anthropometry, body composition by dual x‐ray absorptiometry, 24‐hour dietary recall, and the assessment of retinol, carotenoids and α‐tocopherol serum concentrations. Nineteen women between 33 and 68 years completed the intervention. At the time of diagnosis, 74% of the women were overweight or obese, and serum retinol was <1.05 μmol/L in 42% (n=8). After the 6‐month nutritional intervention, BC patients decreased an average of 2.67 kg of body weight (p <0.001), and lost ~2 kg of body fat (p<0.01). After the intervention, serum retinol increased +0.83 μmol/L (p<0.001) and α‐tocopherol increased +1.89 μmol/L (p<0.02) increased, which was positively correlated with a dietary increase of these micronutrients (p<0.05). No difference was found for provitamin A carotenoids or xantophils (β‐carotene, α‐carotene, β‐cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin and lycopene) (p>0.05). The implementation of an individualized nutritional intervention before and during antineoplastic treatment prevents the nutritional deterioration of BC patients. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03625635. Support or Funding Information JAP and ATLM, received a fellowship from the National Research Council (CONACyT).