Wednesday, 18 July 2018
Early dinner reduces the risk of breast and prostate cancer, according to a study by ISGlobal Barcelona
Catalan researchers analyze for the first time the relationship between time habits and the probability of suffering from certain cancers.
A study by the Institute of Global Health of Barcelona (ISGlobal) concludes that having dinner early, or at least two hours before going to sleep, reduces by 20% the probability of suffering from breast and prostate cancer compared to people who do it after ten o'clock at night and they go to bed immediately after the night meal.
This is the first study that analyzed the relationship between meal times and sleep with cancer risk in people. So far, studies conducted in people on diet and cancer have focused on diet patterns.
The study has been published in the International journal "Journal of Cancer" and the objective has been to evaluate the effect of meal and sleep schedules and their relationship with breast and prostate cancer, two of the most common worldwide. To do this, the habits of life and the chronotype of each person were taken into account, an individual attribute related to the preference for daytime or nighttime activities.
The ISGlobal researcher and first author of the publication, Manolis Kogevinas, points out that if the results are confirmed, "these will have implications for the recommendations on cancer prevention, which currently do not take into account meal times." "This would have a special impact on cultures such as those in southern Europe, where they dine late," he adds.
In this same line of studies, the GCAT project is doing a follow-up round among all 20,000 participants to know their food and sleep schedules, as well as knowing how food, life or health habits have changed since they entered to the program. This follow-up is essential for research, since as it is being seen, the daily habits affect sensibly the way in which our genes are expressed, and how different diseases can develop.
The GCAT project are working with the group of Dr. Kogevinas and ISGlobal Barcelona in a new study on the effect of our habits and environment on our health.
Mamografías para detectar tumores de mama. / AP/TORIN HALSEY
