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Diet and physical activity during and after cancer treatment

Guest Editors:
Nicolas H. Hart: University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Dominic O’Connor: University of Nottingham, United Kingdom


BMC Cancer has published this Collection on Diet and physical activity during and after cancer treatment. The Collection explores how these interventions can mitigate treatment side effects, improve overall well-being, and aid in post-treatment recovery.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Nicolas H. Hart: University of Technology Sydney, Australia

A/Prof Nicolas Hart PhD AES CSCS FESSA is a Senior Editorial Board Member of BMC Cancer. As an NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow and Associate Professor in Cancer Survivorship, his clinical expertise and research focuses on improving outcomes for all people affected by cancer, with a specific interest in people living with advanced or metastatic cancers. His work canvasses oncology and hematology and aims to interrogate (1) survivorship and supportive care issues (i.e., exercise, nutrition, psychosocial, rehabilitation, toxicity management), and (2) cancer outcomes (i.e., tumor biology, disease progression, and overall survival). In recognition of his clinical expertise, he is a member of the World Health Organisation Cancer Rehabilitation Development Group; inaugural Chair of Exercise Oncology and current Chair of Fatigue for the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer; and the MASCC Terry Langbaum Survivorship Fellow developing principles of survivorship care for people with advanced or metastatic cancers. He has published >130 papers and 3 book chapters (including for the European Society of Medical Oncology).

Dominic O’Connor: University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

Dr O’Connor is Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of Postgraduate research at the University of Nottingham. His research interests include, exercise is medicine, cancer and exercise prehabilitation/rehabilitation and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) as an adjunct rehabilitation therapy. 
 

About the Collection

Advances in screening, early detection, and cancer treatments have led to improved outcomes and survival across the disease trajectory. Accordingly, there are over 50 million people estimated to be living with cancer worldwide, and this number is expected to grow. With increasing numbers of survivors, more research is needed to find the most effective ways to support their lives. There is growing evidence that physical activity and consuming a healthy diet after a cancer diagnosis can enhance general physical and psychosocial health in cancer survivors and reduce risk of recurrence, treatment-related side effects, such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, and lymphedema, and cancer-specific all-cause mortality.

In recognition of this relevant field, BMC Cancer has published this Collection which encouraged submissions including but not limited to those addressing:

  • Prehabilitation (preparing for treatment)
  • On-treatment (localized or advanced)
  • Post-treatment rehabilitation (localized), acute and late effects
  • Telehealth
  • Pediatric and adolescent/young adult cancers
  • Frail/high risk patients
  • Advanced and metastatic cancers
  • Rare cancers
  • A multidisciplinary focus


Image credit: Siam / stock.adobe.com

  1. Ketogenic interventions like short-term fasting show potential as complementary therapies to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy for cancer. However, the specific effects of fasting on head and neck squa...

    Authors: Nafiseh Sheykhbahaei, Ahmed Hayder AL Tameemi and Maryam Koopaie
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:989
  2. Structured exercise has an important role in mitigating the extensive side effects caused by ongoing prostate cancer treatments, specifically androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and radiation therapy (RT). Litt...

    Authors: Kira Murphy, Bróna Kehoe, Suzanne Denieffe, Aisling McGrath, Dayle Hacking, Ciaran M. Fairman and Michael Harrison
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:949
  3. Adverse reactions are prone to occur in the early stage of chemotherapy and can negatively affect the dietary intake and nutritional status of breast cancer (BC) patients. Consequently, they need to participat...

    Authors: Han Tang, Wei Zhang, Haiyan Shen, Haili Tang, Min Cai, Tao Wang, Pei Yan, Liang Li, Yan Wang, Huadong Zhao and Lei Shang
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:859
  4. Exercise-based cancer rehabilitation via digital technologies can provide a promising alternative to centre-based exercise training, but data for cancer patients and survivors are limited. We conducted a meta-...

    Authors: Ladislav Batalik, Katerina Chamradova, Petr Winnige, Filip Dosbaba, Katerina Batalikova, Daniela Vlazna, Andrea Janikova, Garyfallia Pepera, Hammoda Abu-Odah and Jing Jing Su
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:600
  5. There is little evidence that dietary supplements are beneficial for patients with breast cancer; therefore, they are usually not recommended by treatment guidelines. The aim of the present analysis was to ass...

    Authors: Dagmar Hauner, Anna Mang, Lara Donik, Florian Schederecker, Dorothy Meyer, Brigitte Rack, Wolfgang Janni and Hans Hauner
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:591
  6. Cancer survivors have a high risk of mortality, and vitamin D (VD) is associated with the risk of mortality. This study is aim to examine the impact of VD on mortality in cancer survivors.

    Authors: Xiaofei Mo, Chen He, Fengfeng Han, Hui Yan, Xueqin Chen, Yuetao Wang and Mingge Zhou
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:545
  7. In recent years, there has been extensive research on the role of exercise as an adjunctive therapy for cancer. However, the potential mechanisms underlying the anti-tumor therapy of exercise in lung cancer re...

    Authors: Sai-Nan Miao, Meng-Qi Chai, Xiang-Yu Liu, Cheng-Yu Wei, Cun-Cun Zhang, Ning-Ning Sun, Qing-Ze Fei, Lin-Lin Peng and Huan Qiu
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:474
  8. During the last decade, twelve studies have been published investigating physical exercise interventions (PEIs) in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) during radiotherapy (RT), chemoradiation (CRT) or bio...

    Authors: Yvette Kriellaars, Jorine Ariane Vermaire, Maaike Beugeling, Robert Poorter, Janneke Drijvers and Caroline Margina Speksnijder
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:403
  9. Testicular germ cell tumours (TGCTs) are the most common malignancy in men aged 15–40 years, with increasing incidence worldwide. About 33 ~ 50% of the patients present with metastatic disease at diagnosis. TG...

    Authors: Hwayoung Noh, Amélie Anota, Rodolf Mongondry, Renaud Meyrand, Carmen Dupuis, Camille Schiffler, Philippe Marijnen, Sabina Rinaldi, Joel Lachuer, Pekka Keski-Rahkonen, Marc J Gunter, Aude Fléchon, Béatrice Fervers and Olivia Pérol
    Citation: BMC Cancer 2024 24:84

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select Diet and physical activity during and after cancer treatment from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.