Dinner two hours before bed may cut cancer risk

EATING dinner at least two hours before bedtime could lower the risk of developing breast or prostate cancer, a study suggests.

People who ate before 9pm or waited two hours after eating before going to sleep were found to have a 20 per cent reduced risk of cancer compared to those who ate after 10pm or close to bedtime.

“Our study concludes that adherence to diurnal eating patterns is associated with a lower risk of cancer,” said Dr Manolis Kogevinas, of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. The findings “highlight the importance of assessing circadian rhythms in studies on diet and cancer”, he added.

If confirmed with future studies, Dr Kogevinas said “they will have implications for cancer prevention recommendations, which currently do not take meal timing into account”.

Recent studies have shown the importance of meal timing and demonstrated the effects of eating late at night.

Breast and prostate cancer are two of the most common cancers, affecting one in eight Britons.

But the new study suggests eating earlier could cut the risk to one in 10.

The research was published in the International Journal of Cancer.