Articles by Vicky Newman
Please find below a brief description of a few of Vicky’s publications with links to the full articles. You can also find more of her publications by searching PubMed using either Newman VA or Newman V
- Fighting Cancer with Food and Activity — Vicky A Newman, MS, RD J Calif Dent Hygienists’ Assoc 2012 (Summer);27(2):2527.Key to reducing cancer risk and progression are lifestyle choices we can control. These include the type and amount of food we eat, and the frequency and intensity of the physical activity we enjoy. Both diet and activity are lifestyle factors that affect the environment (or “terrain”) in which our cells reside. Actions we can take to encourage a “terrain” resistant to cancer growth include controlling weight, maintaining good circulation, eating plenty of plant foods (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans/legumes), and choosing healthy fats.
- Marine fatty acid intake is associated with breast cancer prognosis Patterson RE, Flatt SW, Newman VA, Natarajan L, Rock CL, Thomson CA, Caan BJ, Parker BA, Pierce JP. J Nutr. 2011 Feb;141(2):201-6EPA and DHA, long-chain (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids largely obtained from fish, inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells in cell culture studies and reduce the initiation and progression of breast tumors in laboratory animals. Our purpose in this analysis was to examine whether intake of these marine fatty acids (EPA and DHA) were associated with prognosis in a cohort of women who had been diagnosed and treated for early stage breast cancer (n = 3,081). Median follow-up was 7.3 y. Women with higher intakes of EPA and DHA from food had an approximate 25% reduced risk of additional breast cancer events and reduced risk of all-cause mortality. EPA and DHA intake from fish oil supplements was not associated with breast cancer outcomes.
- Dietary modification in patients with prostate cancer on active surveillance: a randomized, multicentre feasibility study Parsons JK, Newman VA, Mohler JL, Pierce JP, Flatt S, Marshall J. BJU Int. 2008 May;101(10):1227-31.As part of the Men’s Eating and Living (MEAL) Study (a multicentre pilot trial of a diet-based intervention for prostate cancer) 43 men aged 50-80 years with prostate cancer and on active surveillance were randomized to receive either telephone-based dietary counselling or standardized, written nutritional information. Telephone-based dietary counselling increases vegetable intake and plasma concentrations of potentially anti-carcinogenic carotenoids in men with prostate cancer on active surveillance. These data support the feasibility of implementing clinical trials of diet-based interventions in this population.
- Timing of dietary change in response to a telephone counseling intervention: evidence from the WHEL study Madlensky L(1), Natarajan L, Flatt SW, Faerber S, Newman VA, Pierce JP. Health Psychol. 2008 Sep;27(5):539-47.Social-cognitive theory asserts that early successes in achieving behavior change increase self-efficacy, leading to longer-term success. The authors conducted exploratory cluster analyses using dietary data from the first month of the telephone counseling intervention of the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Study. These data suggest that a one-on-one telephone counseling intervention that is intensive in the early weeks may maximize the level of change achieved in a study.
- Telephone counseling promotes dietary change in healthy adults: results of a pilot trial Newman VA(1), Flatt SW, Pierce JP. J Am Diet Assoc. 2008 Aug;108(8):1350-4.Telephone counseling is increasingly reported to be an effective behavior change strategy, but more studies in broader populations are needed. This uncontrolled pilot trial investigated whether a 3-month/eight-call telephone counseling intervention could promote dietary changes associated with reduced chronic disease risk in adults consuming <5.0 servings of vegetables and fruits daily. The intervention was associated with a significant (P<0.001) increase in vegetable servings per day, fruit servings per day, and whole-grain and/or bean servings per day. These changes were corroborated by a significant (P<0.001) increase in total plasma carotenoids. This 3-month/eight-call telephone counseling intervention was associated with dietary change in healthy adults consuming fewer than five servings per day of vegetables and fruit at study entry.
- Longitudinal biological exposure to carotenoids is associated with breast cancer-free survival in the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study Rock CL, Natarajan L, Pu M, Thomson CA, Flatt SW, Caan BJ, Gold EB, Al-Delaimy WK, Newman VA, Hajek RA, Stefanick ML, Pierce JP; Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study Group. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009 Feb;18(2):486-94.In some cohort studies, a high-vegetable diet has been associated with greater likelihood of recurrence-free survival in women diagnosed with breast cancer. Carotenoids are obtained primarily from vegetables and fruit and they exhibit biological activities that may specifically reduce the progression of mammary carcinogenesis. The present analysis examines the relationship between plasma carotenoids at enrollment and 1, 2 or 3, 4, and 6 years and breast cancer-free survival in the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study participants (N = 3,043), who had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. Higher biological exposure to carotenoids, when assessed over the time frame of the study, was associated with greater likelihood of breast cancer-free survival regardless of study group assignment.
- Telephone counseling helps maintain long-term adherence to a high-vegetable dietary pattern Pierce JP(1), Newman VA, Natarajan L, Flatt SW, Al-Delaimy WK, Caan BJ, Emond JA, Faerber S, Gold EB, Hajek RA, Hollenbach K, Jones LA, Karanja N, Kealey S, Madlensky L, Marshall J, Ritenbaugh C, Rock CL, Stefanick ML, Thomson C, Wasserman L, Parker BA. J Nutr. 2007 Oct;137(10):2291-6.Achieving long-term adherence to a dietary pattern is a challenge in many studies investigating the relationship between diet and disease. The Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study was a multi-institutional randomized trial in 3088 women at risk for breast cancer recurrence. At baseline, the average participant followed a healthy dietary pattern of 7 vegetable and fruit servings, 21 g/d of fiber, and 28.7% energy from fat, although fat intake increased over the enrollment period. Using primarily telephone counseling, the intervention group was encouraged to substantially increase intakes of vegetables, fruits, and fiber while decreasing fat intake. At 4 y, the between-group differences were 65% for vegetables (including juice), 25% fruit, 30% fiber, 40% legumes, 30% whole grain foods, and 13% lower intake of energy from fat. Plasma carotenoid concentrations on a random 28% sample validated self-reported vegetable and fruit intake, with a between-group difference of 66% at 1 y and over 40% at 4 y. This large change will allow testing of hypotheses on the role of dietary change in preventing additional breast cancer events.
- Greater survival after breast cancer in physically active women with high vegetable-fruit intake regardless of obesity Pierce JP, Stefanick ML, Flatt SW, Natarajan L, Sternfeld B, Madlensky L, Al-Delaimy WK, Thomson CA, Kealey S, Hajek R, Parker BA, Newman VA, Caan B, Rock CL. Comment in J Clin Oncol. 2007 Jun 10;25(17):2335-7. J Clin Oncol. 2007 Jun 10;25(17):2345-51.Single-variable analyses have associated physical activity, diet, and obesity with survival after breast cancer. This report investigates interactions among these variables. A prospective study was performed of 1,490 women diagnosed and treated for early-stage breast cancer between 1991 and 2000. Enrollment was an average of 2 years post-diagnosis. Only the combination of consuming five or more daily servings of vegetables-fruits, and accumulating 540+ metabolic equivalent tasks-min/wk (equivalent to walking 30 minutes 6 d/wk), was associated with a significant survival advantage. The approximate 50% reduction in risk associated with these healthy lifestyle behaviors was observed in both obese and non-obese women, although fewer obese women were physically active with a healthy dietary pattern (16% v 30%).