Spanish researchers have found that eating supper earlier, or leaving an interval of at least two hours before bedtime, is linked to a lower risk of breast and prostate cancer.
This 2018 study, published in theInternational Journal of Cancer and conducted at the Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in Barcelona, a center supported by the Caixa Banking Foundation, followed 621 patients with Prostate cancer and 1,205 women with breast cancer, as well as 872 men and 1,321 women controls, to see if the evening meal schedules were associated with an increased risk of developing these two cancers.
The researchers interviewed the participants to find out their meal and bed times and their chronotype, the natural inclination to morning or night activities.
Participants also had to complete a questionnaire regarding their eating habits and adherence to cancer prevention recommendations.
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Before 9 p.m. and at least 2 hours before bedtime
The results showed that participants who waited two hours or more after supper before bed had a 20% lower risk of breast or prostate cancer compared to subjects who went to bed immediately after eating. Take your meal before 9 p.m. would also have the same protective effect compared to people who eat after 10 p.m.
The positive effect of waiting longer before going to bed was more pronounced in participants who adhered to cancer prevention recommendations and in those who were more in the morning.
This study is the first to analyze the association between cancer risk and meal and bedtime schedules.
She concludes that adherence to daytime meal models is associated with a lower risk of cancer.
The lead author of the study added that the results “emphasize the importance of assessing circadian rhythms in diet and cancer studies“.
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A link between sleep patterns and food metabolism?
Dora Romaguera, the other author of the study also noted that “more research on humans was needed to understand the causes of these findings, but everything suggests that sleep schedules affect our ability to metabolize food“. Animal experiments have shown that the time of consumption of food was”profound consequences for food metabolism and health“.
If these conclusions are confirmed, Professor Kogevinas made it clear that “They will have implications for cancer prevention recommendations, which currently do not take into account meal times.” And to conclude that “the impact could be all the more significant in the cultures of southern Europe, where we tend to eat late. “
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