Can diet and lifestyle help manage myelofibrosis symptoms? Dr. Pemmaraju explains how the Mediterranean diet and practices like yoga may improve quality of life for patients. 

Dr. Naveen Pemmaraju is Director of the Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm (BPDCN) Program and Professor in the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Pemmaraju.

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

“Can diet play a role in either manifesting the disease and or helping with healing? Also, how important is exercise to the healing?”  

Dr. Naveen Pemmaraju:

I give a lot of credit to this area, to my colleagues, Ruben Mesa, Dr. Angela Fleischman, and Dr. Robyn Scherber. A lot of data that’s come out of these groups, which has shown two major findings in our MPN patients of potential clinical significance. One is as the questioner is asking about diet. It is true that we’re, several studies are pointing towards the anti-inflammatory Mediterranean diet as a potential benefit to our patients with MPN. Lots of different ideas there when they measure cytokines. 

These abnormal protein signatures that are in MPN patients can cause fatigue and some of the bad quality of life can be dramatically improved in some cases by following a strict Mediterranean diet over weeks and months. So, that’s something important. People should check it out. Obviously, diets have to be addressed with each patient and each provider because sometimes a diet may work for someone and not for you because of comorbidities, vitamin deficiencies, electrolytes, etc.  

Then the second aspect, if I may include in this question, is also the concept of yoga/meditation. Dr. Ruben Mesa and others have shown, the same thing, that you can have a potential downregulation of some of these abnormal cytokines. However, the caveat is it must be done right with a guided trainer in a real program over a certain period of time. What I think both of these non-pharmacological interventions tell us is that there are things beyond medicines and pills that may really help our patients in some aspect of the disease.  

Well, if that aspect is fatigue, night sweats, headaches, I think that’s a really important thing. So, let’s say together on this program that these data sets are evolving, they’re interesting, they’re intriguing. For some people, it may be an easy incorporation. Frankly, some people may already be doing these things, but as you ask nicely, let’s include in the discussion non-pharmacologic as we heavily investigate the pharmacologic as well. We’re all open to that. Let’s see the data, and the data is evolving.