Diet plans to reduce breast cancer linked to obesity
Official title: Novel dietary interventions for reducing obesity-associated breast cancer
Funded at University of Colorado Denver · NIH-11252785 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tries different eating schedules for adult women with overweight or obesity to lower breast cancer risk and help treatments work better.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Colorado Denver NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Aurora, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | January 1, 2022 |
| Project end | December 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $644,770 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA258766-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11252785 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adult women (21 years and older) with overweight or obesity, especially those at risk for or living with breast cancer, are the main candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People under 21, men, or those with medical conditions that make calorie restriction unsafe may not be eligible or benefit from this work.
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will compare intermittent energy restriction (short periods of much lower calorie intake) with more standard dietary approaches to see how they affect weight, metabolism, and tumor behavior. The work focuses on adult women with overweight or obesity, including premenopausal women at higher risk for triple-negative breast cancer and postmenopausal women with ER-positive tumors. Investigators will collect weight measurements, blood tests, and possibly tissue samples to study how fat tissue and metabolic changes influence cancer. The aim is to identify a diet plan that people can stick with and that improves cancer-related outcomes.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, these diets could lower breast cancer risk and improve treatment response by improving metabolism and reducing harmful effects of excess weight.
How similar studies have gone: Prior trials of intermittent energy restriction and intermittent fasting have shown promising weight loss and metabolic improvements, but direct evidence that they change breast cancer outcomes is limited.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Colorado Denver
Aurora, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Maclean, Paul S. — University of Colorado Denver
- Study coordinator: Maclean, Paul S.
Related research
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.