Diet-related awareness and behaviors in cancer survivors compared to non-cancer individuals: a pooled analysis of the HINTS study.

Objective: This study aims to investigate diet-related cancer risk awareness and behaviors among cancer survivors compared to non-cancer individuals.

Design: It is a cross-sectional study initiated from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINT).

Setting: Relevant survey questions from different iterations of HINTS were harmonized. Chi-square test and logistic regression models were performed to identify differences in diet-related cancer risk awareness and behaviors between the two groups.

Participants: Participants in the study were drawn from the HINT survey with various variables including age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, marital status, and body mass index.

Results: The analysis revealed no significant differences in diet-related cancer risk awareness or behaviors between cancer survivors and non-cancer individuals. Those dietary factors included red and processed meat, alcohol, fiber, sugar-sweetened beverages, fruits, and vegetables. Specifically, 82% of both survivors and non-survivors failed to meet the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommendations for daily fruit consumption (OR= 0.91; 95% CI= 0.77, 1.06), and approximately 75% did not meet the daily vegetable intake guidelines (OR= 0.96; 95% CI= 0.83, 1.11). The findings suggest that a cancer diagnosis does not inherently lead to improved dietary awareness or healthier eating behaviors.

Conclusion: The lack of improvement in diet-related cancer risk awareness and behaviors among cancer survivors indicated missed education opportunities. The "teachable moment" of cancer diagnosis was not effectively utilized, which highlighted a need for stronger guidance from healthcare providers. This gap may also reflect barriers, including limited training, time constraints, and limited interprofessional collaboration among health professionals in delivering targeted dietary advice.