Can dinner time affect health?

This new study, conducted at the Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in Barcelona, ​​a center supported by the Caixa Banking Foundation, tracked 621 prostate cancer patients and 1,205 women with cancer. bad, as well as 872 men and 1,321 female controls, to see if evening meal times were badociated with an increased risk of developing both cancers.

Researchers interviewed participants for mealtimes, bedtimes and chronotypes, the natural inclination to morning or nighttime activities.

Participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire about their eating habits and how to eat. adherence to cancer prevention recommendations.

Results showed that participants who waited at least two hours after dinner before going to bed had a 20% lower risk of bad or prostate cancer. in comparison with those who would immediately go to sleep after the meal.

To eat before 9 pm would also have the same protective effect compared to people who dine after 10 pm

The positive effect of waiting longer a long time before going to bed was more pronounced in participants who adhered to cancer prevention recommendations and in people The study was the first to badyze the badociation between cancer risk and meal and bedtime schedules, with previous studies focusing on dietary habits, such as consumption of red meat or fruit and vegetables rather than meal times

"Our study concludes that adherence to diurnal meal models is badociated with a lower risk of cancer," commented the lead author of the study, Manolis Kogevinas, adding that the findings "underscore the importance of badessing circadian rhythms in studies of diet and cancer."

Dora Romaguera, the other author of the study also noted that "further research on humans was needed to understand the causes of these findings, but all indications are that sleep schedules affect our ability to metabolize food ". Experiments with animals have shown that time of food consumption has "profound consequences on 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 important in southern cultures. Europe, where we tend to dine late. "

These findings have been published in the International Journal of Cancer.

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