AICR Offers Diet and Activity Tips in Free e-Book for Cancer Patients and Survivors

The not-for-profit American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), noted for its investigation of links between lifestyle and cancer and now in its 30th year, has released a free digital book for cancer patients and survivors, with current, evidence-based advice on managing diet and activity during and after treatment.

The 44-page book, called “CancerResource: Living With Cancer” represents “a completely retooled version of the free information kit that AICR has offered newly diagnosed cancer patients and their families for decades,” the AICR noted in a news release. It’s expected to be especially valuable because it “focuses on the questions that patients tell us they have a hard time finding answers to,” said Alice Bender, a registered dietitian with the AICR. “There’s been a lot of new research on diet and exercise during treatment in the past few years, for example, and CancerResource translates those encouraging findings into useful tips.”

CancerResource begins with an introduction on how to use the guide, and includes these sections:

? During Treatment: Healthy Eating
? During Treatment: Getting and Staying Active
? After Treatment: Healthy Eating
? After Treatment: Getting and Staying Active
? Cancer and Its Treatment: General Information

Its content includes:

? Tips on understanding the diagnosis and finding a healthcare team
? Worksheets with questions patients should ask their healthcare providers about their diagnosis and its treatment
? Ways to use good nutrition and physical activity to help make treatment more tolerable
? How to cope with diet-related side effects and stay active during and after treatment
? Answers to “hot topics” questions about dietary and phytochemical supplements (eg, soy), macrobiotic and vegetarian diets, dietary fiber, and more
? Common cancer terms (in a glossary)
? Useful resources for patients (information about, and links for, the AICR, the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Healthfinder, MEDLINEplus, and OncoLink)

Besides the main CancerResource book, there are also CancerResource programs focusing on breast, lung, colon, and prostate cancer.

Breast cancer patient Chris Rosenbloom praised the e-book: “AICR’s CancerResource will be a lifeline for those diagnosed with cancer,” she said, “because it helps restore control with balanced information, helps in framing the right questions to ask, and provides resources that are credible. There is so much information on the Internet...both good and bad. AICR has done a wonderful service by providing great information in one easy-to-use resource guide.”

The AICR Advisory Committee that developed CancerResource and represents the input of professionals from the physician, nursing, and dietitian communities. It includes Claudio Battaglini, PhD, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Mandi Pratt Chapman, MA, of George Washington University Cancer Institute; Lee W. Jones, PhD, from the Duke Center for Cancer Survivorship; Marcelle Kaplan, RN, MS, AOCN, CBCN, from the Oncology Nursing Society; Francis Keefe, PhD, of Duke University Medical Center; Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, MD, MPH, from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Lidia Schapira, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital; and Cheri Van Patten, RD, MSC, of the BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Advisory Committee member Dr. Lee Jones commented that CancerResource is a great tool for healthcare providers as well as patients and survivors, calling it “a comprehensive ‘must-read’ guide that provides invaluable information to oncology professionals, patients, and their families to help patients cope and recover from a cancer diagnosis.”

CancerResource can be read in its entirety as an online flipbook, or in selected sections on the AICR website.

Single free printed copies of CancerResource can be obtained by calling AICR at 1-800-843-8114, Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. 

Besides CancerResource, the AICR offers a wide variety of free brochures.

(with some available in Spanish) about healthy eating and lifestyles, as well as a separate special brochure just on resources, called “Cancer Information: Where to Find Help.”