Healthy nutrition and physical lifestyle choices lower cancer mortality risk for survivors, new ACS study finds

Researchers analyzed the lifestyle habits of non-smoking participants from the Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort diagnosed with obesity-related cancers between 1992 and 2002 through 2020. Post-diagnosis adherence to ACS guidelines-body mass index (BMI), physical activity, diet, and alcohol consumption—was scored on a scale from 0 to 8. Models were used to calculate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Study results showed among 3,742 cancer survivors (average age 67.6 years) with a median follow-up of 15.6 years, 2,430 deaths occurred. Survivors with a score of 6-8 had a 24% lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR = 0.76; 95% CI = 0.68 to 0.85), a 33% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality (HR = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.54 to 0.83), and a 21% lower risk of cancer-specific mortality (HR = 0.79; 95% CI = 0.64 to 0.97) compared to those with a score of 0-3. Higher BMI and physical activity scores were associated with lower all-cause mortality. Compared to survivors with a consistently low ACS guideline score (less than 5) both before and after diagnosis, those with a consistently high score (five or more) had lower all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality. Additionally, survivors who improved their score from low to high had lower all-cause mortality.

Reference:

 Ying Wang et al, Following the American Cancer Society guideline for cancer survivors and obesity-related cancer survival, JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2025). DOI: 10.1093/jnci/djaf051