MarryHealth Advances Lifestyle Medicine for Oncology Patients Through CNSO-Backed Million-Patient Cohort Clinical Study

Neoplastic diseases are increasingly threatening human health.

According to the 2020 global cancer statistics released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization, there were 19.29 million new cancer cases and 9.96 million cancer deaths worldwide in 2020.

In China, the number of new cancer cases in 2020 reached as high as 4.57 million, with 3 million deaths. The country faces a “dual-high” situation in terms of both the number of new cancer cases and cancer-related deaths.

Top 10 Countries by New Cancer Cases: China Ranks First with Nearly 4.57 Million Cases

As early as 2018, the World Health Organization reported that lifestyle factors accounted for 60% of the determinants of human health. This indicates that, alongside pharmaceutical interventions for disease prevention and control, personal health management—particularly lifestyle management—is an effective strategy.

MARRYHEALTH ENTERPRISES (CHONGQING) INC. (hereinafter referred to as “MarryHealth”) is a company dedicated to helping patients with cancer and chronic diseases manage their conditions and address treatment-related complications through non-pharmacological approaches. In addition to receiving standardized medical care, these patients are empowered to achieve scientific and correct self-led lifestyle modifications through precise lifestyle medicine interventions.

At a time when lifestyle medicine for oncology management is still in its exploratory phase in China, MARRYHEALTH has already established deep roots in the field. What insights and reflections does its experience offer? We sat down with MARRYHEALTH’s executive team for an in-person discussion.

First, we need to clarify a concept: what is lifestyle medicine?

Lifestyle medicine is an emerging medical model that treats and manages diseases through lifestyle interventions. It refers to controlling disease progression through diet, exercise, stress management, smoking cessation, and various other non-pharmacological therapies. In contrast to the traditional disease-centered approach, lifestyle medicine places greater emphasis on individuals’ lifestyles and the root causes of disease, ultimately improving patients’ health outcomes by modifying their habitual behaviors.

Historically, most patients with chronic diseases, including those with cancer, have typically relied on pharmacological therapy to control disease progression. In contrast, lifestyle medicine seeks to prevent and treat chronic conditions—and thereby delay and control their progression—by encouraging patients to adopt healthier lifestyles, utilizing non-pharmacological and non-surgical approaches.

In fact, the concept of lifestyle medicine has been developing abroad for more than 30 years.

At the end of the 20th century, as the incidence of various chronic diseases rose, it was recognized that the high disease rates were closely linked to patients’ individual lifestyles, giving rise to the concept of “Lifestyle Medicine.” The initial proposal of “Lifestyle Medicine” was associated with lung cancer, a major “killer” among cancers.

In 1988, American epidemiologist Ernst Wynder first introduced the concept of lifestyle medicine while discussing the impact of smoking on lung cancer, and he used the term at a symposium in 1989. He believed that lifestyle medicine could intervene in chronic diseases. Subsequently, as research deepened, lifestyle medicine associations were established one after another, and expert consensus gradually took shape. The concept of “lifestyle medicine” has also been progressively promoted from the United States to the global academic community. As a country neighboring the United States, Canada was among the first to embrace this concept and carry it to its fullest extent—by integrating lifestyle medicine with clinical practice, Canada achieved an 82% five-year survival rate for cancer patients, ranking highest in the world.

“Key Milestones in the Development of the ‘Lifestyle Medicine’ Concept”

In China, the concepts of “preventive treatment of disease” in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for disease prevention, the management of patient behaviors during treatment (such as dietary restrictions and exercise), and the emphasis on chronic diseases all align closely with the principles of “Lifestyle Medicine.” To some extent, this has lowered the barrier to public acceptance of Lifestyle Medicine. Meanwhile, academic discussions on this theory have never ceased. As we mentioned earlier, itsAt its core is a “whole-patient-centered” approach, in which a professional medical team leverages the latest evidence-based medicine findings to deliver individualized, multidisciplinary, integrated, non-pharmacological, and non-surgical interventions that assist patients in adopting lifestyle changes, thereby achieving sustained, effective, and comprehensive disease prevention and reversal toward recovery.

It is conceivable that this concept will have a profound impact on the current healthcare system, which is disease-centered and primarily relies on pharmacological and surgical interventions. Meanwhile, a growing number of patients who are suitable candidates for “treatment” and “intervention” through “Lifestyle Medicine” face a lack of available Lifestyle Medicine programs.

(1) The knowledge system for lifestyle medicine interventions is inconsistent, lacking professional standardized intervention models;
(2) How to Successfully Implement Lifestyle Medicine Interventions in Different Settings;
(3) How to evaluate the effectiveness of lifestyle medicine interventions in patients through effective assessment methods;
(4) How to engage patients and improve adherence through effective cognitive education;
(5) What methods can be used to enable patients to pay for lifestyle medicine intervention services? 

Is there potential for further development of “lifestyle medicine,” which is still in its early exploratory stages in China? Meirui Health, established in 2014, may offer an answer.

MARRYHEALTH (established in 2014 as MARRYHEALTH ENTERPRISES (CHONGQING) INC.) and MARRYHEALTH Medical (established in 2020) both serve as operational centers for the Greater China region of the North America MARRYHEALTH Industries Group. MARRYHEALTH Medical is dedicated to developing related software and providing patient services, while MARRYHEALTH primarily handles supply chain support for medical nutrition products. (Due to industrial synergies between the two entities, references to “MARRYHEALTH Medical” hereinafter encompass both.)

Marryhealth Medical is backed by the Marryhealth Health Industry Group, a large-scale R&D and industrial conglomerate focused on life sciences and human health, with its base in Montreal, Canada. Indeed, the Group’s presence has provided significant support to the development of Marryhealth Medical.

MARRYHEALTH Health Industry Group Canada Headquarters

Lifestyle medicine management, in the conventional sense,MARRYHEALTH’s Whole-Course Medical Management of Lifestyle for Cancer Patients（Medical Supervison for Cancer (CD) Patients’ Healthy Lifestyle，Abbreviation: MCL) is more like an "upgraded version" of the former. It comesOriginating from Canada, it integrates clinical outcomes from first-line therapies (FLT) for chronic disease lifestyle management in the United States, the Prehabilitation Oncology Program (POP) in Canada, and Cancer Nutrition Therapy (CNT) in China. It aims to reshape healthy lifestyles through medical interventions, thereby improving patient outcomes, extending patient survival, and reducing treatment costs.

In 2017,MARRYHEALTH and Neijiang No. 2 People's Hospital Jointly Established China’s First Lifestyle Medicine Management Center for Cancer PatientsUnlike many chronic disease management platforms that implement their concepts in a superficial manner, MARRYHEALTH has positioned itself specifically in oncology patient management to demonstrate its determination and capabilities. By building a multi-channel platform system, MARRYHEALTH achieves intervention in multiple factors affecting patient disease progression, including nutrition, exercise, and psychological well-being.

The ability to achieve these outcomes is partly attributable to MARRYHEALTH Medical’s leverage of its parent group’s advantages. North American MARRYHEALTH Health Industry Group holds a dual identity within the industry: it is both a leader in functional foods and medical nutrients in North America, and a pioneer in lifestyle medicine. Leveraging the group’s capabilities, MARRYHEALTH Medical has been able to rapidly expand its MCL project business in China.

On one hand, backed by its parent group, MARRYHEALTH ENTERPRISES (CHONGQING) INC. possesses inherent and unique advantages in providing nutritional support tailored to patient needs.

To better facilitate nutritional supplementation and enhance recovery outcomes for patients, high-quality medical-grade nutrients are currently provided to select patients in China. MARRYHEALTH ENTERPRISES (CHONGQING) INC. offers medical-grade nutrients, including ABD Active Factors. According to Ye Gen, Vice President of MARRYHEALTH, medical-grade nutrients in Canada are analogous to the concept of Foods for Special Medical Purpose (FSMP) in China. These products are typically manufactured in cGMP-certified facilities, require clinical validation, and must obtain Natural Product Number (NPN) certification from Health Canada. “The standards governing their research and development, manufacturing, and registration are higher than the current regulatory requirements for FSMPs in China,” he stated.

Marryhealth Medical currently distributes high-quality, original Canadian-imported medical nutrients in the domestic market. Similar to its previously mentioned core product, ABD Active Factor, which has secured 78 international pharmaceutical patents across 28 countries, published 69 SCI-indexed scientific and clinical research papers, and been continuously included in the Canadian Pharmacopoeia and the United States Pharmacopeia for 21 consecutive years, Marryhealth Medical is continually introducing top-tier global raw materials and formulations. To better provide nutritional support to patients, the company commissions domestically listed pharmaceutical enterprises to process and manufacture these products in accordance with the requirements for Foods for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP). Such products include short-peptide complete nutritional formulas, intact-protein complete nutritional formulas, and concentrated whey protein powder, all of which are currently undergoing certification applications for FSMP status.

On the other hand, leveraging the Group’s extensive expertise in lifestyle medicine, MARRYHEALTH has developed the Yisuikang intelligent management platform to provide comprehensive, multi-dimensional lifestyle medicine interventions for tumor care, serving both patients and healthcare providers throughout the entire disease management journey.

By integrating oncology diagnosis and treatment standards with artificial intelligence through “Big Data + AI + Internet” technologies, the platform enables multi-channel coordination among hospitals, communities, and families, as well as among doctors, patients, and the platform team. While ensuring professional expertise and high-quality service delivery, it creates a more compassionate care experience for patients.

By establishing a three-tier management model featuring hierarchical oversight, seamless integration, and bidirectional flow, along with an online-to-offline (O2O) service loop, and supported by MARRYHEALTH’s round-the-clock expert medical services, the company leverages its Health Signal Engine—combined with data science, behavioral support, and clinical impact—to provide patients with a one-stop, whole-course management service encompassing lifestyle medicine diagnosis, intervention, education, and care. Currently, it has launched over 20 patient-focused solutions that maximize benefits for both clinicians and patients through intelligent whole-course disease management.

To better support clinicians, MARRYHEALTH has partnered with McGill University, the Montreal General Hospital, the International Society of Oncology Rehabilitation Professionals (ISORP), Dietitians of Canada, the Committee on Cancer Nutrition of the China Anti-Cancer Association (CNSO), and Wanfang Medical. These collaborations facilitate access to international resources, cutting-edge technologies, and Wanfang Medical’s disease, drug, and medical examination knowledge bases, while also providing literature search capabilities.

It is reported that since 2017, Meirui Medical has provided services to thousands of clinical physicians through the Yisuikang platform. To date, Meirui Medical manages over 30,000 paying patients. Some patients have chosen to continue receiving services from Meirui Medical even after surpassing the five-year survival mark. While Meirui Medical continues to strengthen its comprehensive management of lifestyle medicine in oncology, Meirui Health obtained certification as a National High-Tech Enterprise in 2020. Furthermore, this management platform was honored as an “Outstanding Project” among the Leading Scientific and Technological Achievements at the 2022 China International Big Data Industry Expo.

To better promote industry development, MARRYHEALTH is also advancing the popularization of lifestyle medicine concepts from the two aspects of “practice” and “research.”

On one hand, MARRYHEALTH is accelerating its implementation in hospitals.

To better benefit cancer patients, MARRYHEALTH leverages the strength of professional associations and collaborates with Wanfang Medicine, the Chinese Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (CSPEN) of the Chinese Medical Association, and the Committee on Nutritional Support Therapy of Cancer Patients (CNSO) of the China Anti-Cancer Association to provide hospitals with comprehensive, holistic Lifestyle Medicine Center construction. This initiative supports the growth of hospitals and physicians, accelerates the development of tiered diagnosis and treatment systems, two-way referral mechanisms, and specialized comprehensive oncology care capabilities. Through services such as professional talent development, clinical skills training, and whole-course lifestyle medicine management for patients, MARRYHEALTH helps hospitals establish regional academic and therapeutic centers, thereby attracting more patients and achieving full-process lifestyle medicine management for cancer patients.

In addition to setting a benchmark in the management of oncology patients, MARRYHEALTH is also expanding its management services for other chronic diseases.MARRYHEALTH, in collaboration with other medical experts, has expanded its “1+N” disease intervention model. Beyond oncology, it manages a large cohort of patients with other chronic conditions, such as diabetes, gallbladder diseases, pulmonary nodules, and gout. Its system management platform is further extending its boundaries to support the “1+N” disease management model.

On the other hand, MARRYHEALTH is also strengthening basic scientific research in lifestyle medicine.

To better provide clinical data support,In 2021, MARRYHEALTH, in collaboration with Professor Shi Hanping from Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, the Committee on Nutritional Support of Cancer Patients of the China Anti-Cancer Association (CNSO), the Chinese Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (CSPEN), as well as experts in oncology from multiple renowned universities and tertiary hospitals, successfully secured a national multi-center clinical research project funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, titled “Precision Lifestyle Medicine Interventions to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Cancer Patients: A Million-Patient Cohort Study.” MARRYHEALTH serves as the exclusive software platform and patient service support provider for this project.

The implementation of this initiative will further advance MARRYHEALTH and the entire industry in developing a real-world data (RWD) service system for oncology, grounded in compliant data and precise matching. This will further support hospital discipline development, facilitate clinical research by physicians, and provide comprehensive support to hospitals and doctors spanning from treatment to research.

MARRYHEALTH also stated its goal to implement its services in 100 hospitals and manage one million cancer patients within five years, jointly establish a lifestyle medicine intervention system for malignant tumor patients in China, build a database on lifestyle medicine interventions for cancer patients, and ultimately increase the five-year survival rate of cancer patients in China by 5 percentage points.

In its ongoing efforts to advance the practical implementation and research of its solutions, MARRYHEALTH ENTERPRISES (CHONGQING) INC. has announced that it will further increase R&D investment to rapidly iterate its products and service systems. Meanwhile, the company will engage in the introduction, R&D, and production of top-tier domestic and international products, raw materials, and formulations for comprehensive cancer care management. By providing hospitals with discipline development consulting services and support for lifestyle medicine diagnosis and treatment systems, MARRYHEALTH aims to help hospitals establish comprehensive lifestyle medicine management centers for cancer patients, enhance overall service capabilities for oncology patients, and promote the development of “cancer-free” hospitals and high-quality smart hospitals.

In fact, to accelerate the implementation of industrial projects,MARRYHEALTH also plans to raise funds. It intends to allocate the proceeds toward team building, business expansion, system iteration and upgrades, and the extension of its services to other disease areas.

In 2022, the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases established the “Center for Healthy Lifestyle Medicine.” The concept of lifestyle management has gained further prominence., China will undoubtedly place greater emphasis on the development of lifestyle medicine in the future. With the population aged 60 and above reaching 264.02 million, China will inevitably face a substantially increased burden of disease management and treatment. In this context, lifestyle medicine is poised to play an increasingly vital role in the management and treatment of diseases.

For MARRYHEALTH, its mission is to “help cancer patients achieve better treatment outcomes, live longer, live better, and spend less.” By implementing comprehensive lifestyle medicine management for cancer patients, it will further promote the establishment of academic leadership in oncology diagnosis and treatment as well as new patient care models, thereby facilitating the realization of this goal.