Anti-inflammatory diet education improved sleep during breast cancer chemotherapy

Design

Randomised controlled trial, 12 weeks

Population

132 women with breast cancer and sleep disturbance during chemotherapy

Primary outcome

Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

Effect

PSQI β −2.10 (95% CI −3.01 to −1.18); sleep disturbance 49.2% vs 78.9%

In a Chinese randomised trial, 132 women with breast cancer and sleep disturbance during chemotherapy received either 12 weeks of education on an anti-inflammatory diet, guided by the dietary inflammatory index, or usual care.

At 12 weeks, sleep quality scores improved more with the intervention (difference −2.10 points on the Pittsburgh index). Among completers, 49% still had sleep disturbance against 79% with usual care. Quality of life improved, and inflammatory markers (interleukin-6, interleukin-1β, CRP) fell.

Sleep is often overlooked during chemotherapy. Dietary education is cheap and low-risk, and this trial suggests it is worth offering, although the unblinded design means expectation may account for some of the effect.

• Ask about sleep at each chemotherapy cycle; disturbance is common and treatable.
• Consider referring patients for dietary education emphasising vegetables, whole grains and less processed food.
• Dietary change complements, but does not replace, other sleep interventions such as CBT for insomnia.
• The benefit was measured over 12 weeks; long-term effects are unknown.

Why it matters

It offers a low-cost, low-risk option for a symptom that is common and seldom treated during chemotherapy.

Don't overread it

The trial was unblinded, single-country, and the sleep disturbance proportions come from a completer analysis.

The statistics, in plain English

A β of −2.10 means the intervention group's sleep score fell about two points more than controls on a 21-point scale, where lower is better; the interval −3.01 to −1.18 excludes zero.

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