https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/17/health/eat-earlier-lower-cancer-risk-study/index.html Story highlights Eating late at night may be associated with insulin resistance, experts say The study followed 621 patients with prostate cancer and 1,205 patients with breast cancer in Spain (CNN)People who eat dinner before 9 p.m. -- or at least two hours before going to sleep -- have a 20% lower risk of breast and prostate cancer than those who eat after 10 p.m. or go to bed shortly after supper, researchers found. "The mechanisms are not clear," said Dr. Manolis Kogevinas, a research professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health in Spain and lead author of a new study on the topic. "What we know from experimental studies is that we are conditioned to function in different parts of the day. We -- not only humans but all living organisms -- have developed throughout time functioning differently in day and night." The study, published Tuesday in the International Journal of Cancer, followed 621 people who had prostate cancer and 1,205 who had breast cancer, as well as 872 male and 1,321 female patients without cancer, known as a control group, chosen randomly from primary health centers throughout Spain. Weight loss can be tied to when, not just what, you eat The authors considered each person's lifestyle and chronotype, or preference for being an early bird or a night owl, interviewing them about when they ate meals and their sleeping habits. Participants also completed questionnaires about their eating habits and observance of cancer prevention recommendations such as physical activity and limiting alcohol consumption. The researchers said that the effect of a longer supper-sleep interval was more noticeable in those who were following cancer prevention recommendations and in those who were morning types with both breast and prostate cancer. About 27% of breast cancer patients followed the cancer prevention recommendations, compared with 31% of the control group. Similar results were found in the prostate cancer group. The researchers interviewed the two group types twice, asking them about workday and weekend habits when they were 40 (or their current age, if younger) and about what they were doing a year before their cancer diagnosis or before they were interviewed. Though 7% of the subjects also had after-supper snacks, the study focused on full meals, Kogevinas said. Previous research has shown that breast and prostate cancer risk are associated with night-shift work and the disruption of circadian rhythm, or a person's sleep-wake cycle, Kogevinas explained. In 2007, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer categorized shift work that disrupts circadian rhythm as a health hazard that can probably cause cancer in humans. However, people who had done night-shift work were not included in the new study. The results of the study are fairly consistent with previous research, said Catherine Marinac, a research fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who was not involved in the study. Marinac's own research suggests that eating in tune with the body's natural clock may help reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence in survivors. "Population-based studies have found that people that eat late at night have higher rates of obesity and worse metabolic profiles," Marinac said. "And in particular, we have found that people that have a longer nightly fasting duration, which might imply less late-night eating, have better blood sugar control and a lower risk of cancer recurrence. "Disruption of your body clock and reduced ability to process glucose are possible mechanistic factors linking late-night eating to cancer risk," she explained. Many issues that are not accounted for in the new study may influence the results, said Dr. Ganesh Palapattu, chief of urologic oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School, who was not involved in the research. For example, the study reports the subjects' educational status but not information on their jobs and how stressful they were. "I'm not sure it's what I would call practice-changing or behavior-modifying in any way at this time," Palapattu said. "On this one study, I'm not going to tell patients to eat earlier or go to sleep later." The two groups ate similar diets, and the researchers did extensive analyses comparing the results and confirming that they were because of the timing of meals rather than other factors such as social class, Kogevinas said. Kogevinas cautioned that while the study's conclusions are based on strong biological evidence, the data are still new. There need to be more populations studied in different contexts, outside of Spain, where people tend to have later suppers than other countries. It will be after reproducing these results elsewhere and in large groups that recommendations can be issued and experts can determine how much the timing of diet affects cancer risk compared with being obese or eating unhealthy foods, Kogevinas said. "My general philosophy with these sorts of things are still for patients to not overreact with these studies, to continue to do the things that are known to be hopeful and healthful," Palapattu said. "Don't smoke. Try to maintain your ideal body weight. Exercise regularly. Wear a helmet. Don't text and drive. Wear a seat belt." Still, the new findings are intriguing, he noted. "Not only you are what you eat," Palapattu said. "You are how you eat, and it might very well be that you are when you eat."
I used to eat fairly late when I was younger, and got away with it. Fortunately, I never had a weight issue, as I guess I was doing other things right. And the gods saw fit to give me a decent metabolism seeing as how they cheaped out on the height thing. But as of a few years ago, I noticed that eating later negatively affected the quality of my sleep. And so, I eat a few (3 or more) hours before retiring. It just feels better. If it might also reduce the chances of some types of cancer, that's a bonus.
Yep. I would eat four large sandwiches (eight slices of bread) and a pint of milk every night reading my book in bed as a kid and I was just athletic and toned without effort. Now.. not so much. Living in Colombia you can see how food affects size. The younger generation are decently sized, not huge but double that of their grandfather's generation. Some friends are actually huge for Colombians but their mother made them eat like horses as teens specifically to give them every chance to grow to max potential. Both sons and the daughter were models for a bit as they were tall, nearly everyone here has a nice face. I am about to try and get off obviously excessive processed sugars.. no more fizzy drinks etc. or sugar in coffee which I recon will be as hard as quitting smoking. I get a depressive reaction to artificial sweeteners. Sigh.. as we age, food becomes one reliable comfort and salve for boredom but it has a cost.
In contrast, I had something of an eating disorder as a very young child; I sometimes just refused to eat. It didn't do me any favors. (Hopefully, I'm still awash in the resulting longevity genes as a consolation prize. ) Just avoid sweets altogether. In a short period of time, you'll lose your affinity to sweeteners. In fact, if you're like me, you'll eventually find that foods you once liked will become sickly sweet and effortless to avoid. Yeah, but that's definitely not a good thing given that we start to lose a bit of muscle mass every year fairly early on unless we do resistance exercise, which slows down the process. All else being equal, losing muscle mass makes gaining fat easier because of a lower BMR. Not a virtuous cycle, to be sure.
I've been mixing 7-UP with carbonated water 1/4 ratio and it is much better tasting and more refreshing. I can't touch sweetners as it makes me depressed and sometimes road-ragey. Our cleaner nearly quit last time I had diet Sprite when I tried to explain that I don't want her re-arranging all the cooking stuff every visit because it takes me 20 minutes to find everything I need. Being truly big... sigh.. you have to be really delicate as something in a perfectly normal cranky voice comes across with a lot more threat. With the macho history in Colombia women much more sensitive to aggression in men, most taken beatings from them I'm sure. Poor Carmen was shot on two separate occasions, once as a bystander in the Escobar days and another she did not explain. Even my own girlfriend shot herself in the hand as a kid when she found her dad's revolver... I was joking we should name the new apartment "Casa de los imanes de bala". Maybe I should hire a bigger cleaner who can take the odd snippy comment All I need is calisthenics really. I like to be as kind as possible to my joints due to years of abuse when younger.
Nothing wrong with that. You can structure a pretty good workout with calisthenics alone, if you choose some good ones such as dips, pull ups, inverted rows, push ups, one-legged squats (a couple of different ways to do it), hand stand or pike presses, even one-legged calf raises while holding something (or someone) of weight. And there are simple ways to make each of them more challenging as your strength improves. So calisthenics can take you pretty far. P.S. Just watch out for cleaners who talk softly and carry big sticks.
We all can get away with a lot of things when we are younger but it is a fact that our metabolism slows as we age and insulin resistance increases if we constantly have blood sugar spikes over time as we age. It is not surprising that those who eat later are more likely to be obese and have metabolic conditions nor is it surprising that obesity/metabolic conditions are the #1 risk factors for most cancers, not genetics. This study went a different route but is along the lines of establishing the risk factors. I think if a study did candy consumption and cancer rates they would also find interesting correlation. But to be fair this study simply came to the same conclusion we all could have said before the money was even poured into it to begin with. The data they refer to is unimpressive. I think the money is better spent on other areas of cancer research to be honest..
Throw in a double shot of apple cider vinegar mixed with warm water and a teaspoon of honey about an hour before retiring. Helps in many areas and will also help keep you hydrated for a better part of your sleeping hours. Gives a fuller feeling as well so you wont feel so hungry going to bed. Downside, you will get up a time or two during the night to take a piss. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-proven-health-benefits-of-apple-cider-vinegar#section4
I take nettle leaf capsules for five days in a row every month (I have an app to remind me), does wonders for urinary tract flow. Jesus I'm getting old.