While we often hear that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, new research suggests that we may need to take into consideration the importance of when we eat dinner.
In a new study published in The International Journal of Cancer, researchers noted that late night eating is associated with multiple different poor health outcomes, including cancer risk, reports Dr. Michael Macintyre with ABC News’ Medical Unit.
“We know that breast and prostate cancer are very common and the most related to shift work and sleep-disruption,” Dr. Manolis Kogevinas, the lead author of the study, told ABC News. “We know from experimental studies that timing of diet is important for health.”
The important relationship, the study shows, is between when people eat dinner and when they go to sleep and how that affects their risk of breast and prostate cancer. These two types of cancer are more likely in people who eat just before bedtime, compared with those who leave at least two hours between dinner and going to sleep.
The researchers found that the risk of developing cancer decreased when there was a long period of time between eating dinner and sleeping.
Men who report eating dinner at least two hours before going to sleep had a 26% decrease in prostate cancer compared to those eating immediately before bed; women, a 16% decrease in breast cancer.
Furthermore, people who had dinner before 9:00 p.m. had a 25% decrease in prostate cancer and a 15% decrease in breast cancer compared to people who had dinner after 10:00 p.m.
Depending on whether a person has a natural preference for morning or evening activities further influenced cancer risk. The decreased cancer risk with eating early dinner was even more pronounced in “morning people” compared to “evening people.”
