Dance and Dietary Intervention Improves Metabolic Health, Fitness, and Quality of Life With Modest Gut Microbiota Shifts in Breast Cancer Patients With Obesity: A Pilot RCT
Libuša Nechalová, Adela Penesová, Ivan Hric, Peter Olej, Miroslava Šimiaková, Simona Ugrayová, Jenni Hekkala, Simona Kelčíková, Marián Grendár, Satu Pekkala, Viktor BielikABSTRACT
Background
Post‐treatment weight gain and gut dysbiosis are important concerns in breast cancer patients. However, evidence on the gut microbiota in this population, particularly in relation to physical activity, is limited.
Aim
Therefore, we compared gut microbiota in breast cancer patients with obesity with healthy controls and non‐cancer controls with obesity and subsequently examined the effects of a combined dance and dietary intervention on gut microbiota, metabolic health, physical fitness, and quality of life.
Methods and Results
The observational part compared gut microbiota in breast cancer patients with obesity (BCO, BMI 32.43 ± 4.90 kg/m
2
) with non‐cancer controls with obesity (OC, BMI 37.78 ± 6.68 kg/m
2
) and healthy controls (HC, BMI 21.26 ± 1.26 kg/m
2
). A controlled trial was conducted in breast cancer patients with obesity, with an intervention group (INT,
n
= 13) receiving a 12‐week combined dance and dietary intervention and non‐intervention controls (CTRL,
n
= 10). Gut microbiota was assessed using 16S rRNA sequencing, physical fitness was evaluated by an incremental bicycle ergometer test and motor tests, and quality of life was measured using the EORTC QLQ‐C30 and BR23 questionnaires. In the observational study, breast cancer patients showed significant differences in beta diversity and a lower relative abundance of health‐associated bacteria (e.g.,
Conclusion
Breast cancer patients showed more negative shifts in gut microbiota compared with both controls. In addition, a 12‐week combined dance and dietary intervention improved body composition, physical fitness, quality of life, and was associated with mixed but potentially beneficial changes in select gut microbiota taxa among breast cancer patients with obesity.
Trial Registration
Clinical trial registration number: NCT07213271