Eating shortly before going to bed could increase the risk of cancer, according to a study

Midnight snacks or late dinners could increase the risk of cancer, according to a study showing the damage caused by disruption of the body's internal clock

Spanish scientists discovered that people ate regularly their evening meal after 21h. less than two hours before going to sleep, had an increased risk of 25% of breast and prostate cancers.

The team at the Institute for Global Health of the University of Barcelona said that this could be the result of late dinners. to force the body's metabolism to accelerate, at a time when it should be falling to go to sleep

It follows several important studies that examined the damage to the health of shift work, the routine in the nurses and manual workers, those occupations with a particularly high risk of prostate and breast cancer.

These types of cancers are closely related to hormonal signals and are often treated with testosterone or estrogen blocking therapies. Hormones are chemical messengers that can make us sleepy, hungry and stressed and are therefore closely related to the body's circadian rhythms – the internal clock that is set by the diurnal / diurnal cycle.

A recent study suggested that employers in fact, they hurt their staff by forcing those who might be natural night owls to come early.

"Our study concludes that adherence to dietary dietary habits is associated with a lower risk of cancer," said Dr. Manolis Kogevinas, lead author of the study published in International Journal of Cancer . "[These findings] emphasize the importance of assessing circadian rhythms in studies of diet and cancer," he added.

They interviewed 1,800 Spanish patients with breast or prostate cancer, as well as more than 2,000 people They found that cancer patients were more likely to eat late at night, even after taking account of other health habits and eating or sleeping habits.

Currently, international guidelines on cancer prevention do not mention the potential impact of meal times on cancer, although the World Health Organization reads shift work as a potential carcinogen.

Studies on the effects of meal disruption showed "profound effects on health" and the Barcelona group says that if more studies reproduce their results, there might be a reason to update the guidelines

"More in-depth research in humans is needed to understand the reasons for these discoveries. but everything seems to indicate that the timing of sleep affects our ability to metabolize food, "said Dr. Dora Romaguera, who led the research.