A systematic literature review of nutrition education programs or interventions in the United States for Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors

Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors are living longer due to improvement in quality of care, early detection, and treatment. The need to address survivorship issues, such as nutrition, by race and ethnicity is a priority area in closing the health disparity gap, as there is not a lot of research investigating the relationship between physical wellbeing and diet for cancer survivors. The purpose of the systematic literature review was to research if Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors were included in nutrition education programs or interventions in the United States. PsycInfo, PubMed, and Web of Knowledge were three scholarly databases utilized following the matrix method. The literature search identified 54 abstracts, of which 10 articles met all inclusion criteria. The studies differed in their study objectives, design, sample populations, type of cancers included, and nutrition program or intervention assessed. Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors reported more risk factors, such as hypertension and diabetes, when compared to white non-Hispanic survivors. Even with moderate weight loss and improved dietary patterns during a program, Hispanics/Latinos did not maintain nutritional recommendations post completion of the program. Many Hispanic/Latino cancer support group facilitators have found that a gap among what is offered to this population is based on nutrition education. Diet changes can be significantly associated with physical wellbeing for cancer survivors, but current programs and interventions are including diverse minority populations as one when their variations may be too dense to generalize. Future interventions for Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors should identify innovative methods to increase uptake and maintenance of weight loss behaviors.