If the Mediterranean diet – based on theolive oil, nuts and legumesbut also fruits, vegetables and fish – is often judged as the best for health, allowing both to fight against cardiovascular diseases and to lengthen life expectancy, it could also be beneficial in patients affected by melanoma advanced, the most severe form of skin cancer.
According to researchers at the University Medical Center of Groningen in the Netherlands, the Mediterranean diet would indeed enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy in patients with melanoma, one of the cancers whose incidence increased the most between 2010 and 2018. In France, the number of cases of melanoma was estimated at 15,500 cases in 2018, with an increase of 4% per year in men since 1990, and 2.7% in women over the same period.
The study followed the diets of 91 patients with advanced melanoma being treated via immunotherapy with drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Patients taking their treatment and following a Mediterranean-type diet at the same time not only responded better to immunotherapy, but were both more likely that their disease had not worsened a year later. “Our study supports the role of dietary strategies in improving patient outcomes and survival.”says Laura Bolte, dietitian and lead author of the study.
Red meat increases the risk of side effects
Consumption of whole grains and legumes significantly reduced the likelihood of suffering side effects from immunotherapy drugs, such as colitis, an inflammation of the colon. Conversely, people who ate a lot of red and processed meat suffered more from side effects.
“The relationship between the response to immunotherapy with diet and the microbiome opens up a promising and exciting future for improving responses to treatment”, comments Professor Bolte. The trials could be extended to other types of cancer, in particular digestive cancers.
What advice to adopt more simply the Mediterranean diet? To follow the Mediterranean diet, you should eat more fish, fruits and vegetables at each meal. In cooking, replace sunflower oil or butter with olive oil. Snack with nuts and eat fruit for dessert.
