Charting a Healthier Future: Improving Ovarian Cancer Survival for Black Women Through Dietary Adherence

In part 2 of our interview with Bonnie Qin, PhD, assistant professor at Rutgers Cancer institute, she expands upon her findings by identifying factors that may influence adherence to dietary guidelines.

Looking ahead, Qin discusses how health care providers can leverage the insights from her study to address racial disparities in ovarian cancer survival. She also emphasizes the need for further research to enhance our understanding of modifiable lifestyle factors that could improve ovarian cancer survival rates.

Transcript

What factors may influence adherence to dietary guidelines?

In our study, we found that participants with higher education levels were more likely to adhere closely to dietary guidelines, but our study did not specifically assess the social factors influencing adherence to dietary guidelines.

We know that maintaining a high-quality diet is often a privilege. From many other existing studies, we know that higher dietary quality has been associated with higher individual socioeconomic status and access to healthy foods, which is also relevant at the community level.

In our study, the associations we observed between diet and ovarian cancer survival were independent of individual-level socioeconomic status because we carefully adjusted for potential confounders in the model. However, the strategies to improve dietary quality may need to target social barriers, such as affordability and access to healthy foods.

How can health care providers use your findings to address racial disparities in ovarian cancer survival?

Our findings suggest that future dietary interventions should target women with the lowest dietary quality and that even moderate adherence to dietary guidelines may be associated with improved survival after high-grade serous ovarian cancer diagnosis among Black women. What are the components of the dietary guidelines? I think I should mention that.

The dietary guidelines evaluated in this study include the current dietary guidelines for Americans. So, foods recommended for higher consumption for health benefits include fruits, vegetables, grains and beans, whole grains, dairy, total protein foods, seafood and plant proteins, and a higher ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats. Foods and dietary elements to limit for better health include refined grain, sodium, added sugars, and saturated fats.

What further research is needed to expand our understanding of modifiable lifestyle factors that could improve ovarian cancer survival rates?

First, to validate our findings, more studies on this topic are needed. Second, although we were also interested in post-diagnosis dietary quality, the potential dietary quality changes since diagnosis, and how they affect ovarian cancer survival among Black women, we cannot answer these questions from the current study design; we encourage further research for these questions.

Additionally, more studies are needed to identify the multilevel factors to improve survival outcomes for Black women, who are an understudied and underserved population.