Lets take a trip back in time a few years to 2015 and discuss a research article published in the journal PLoS One titled "Frequency and Circadian Timing of Eating May Influence Biomarkers of Inflammation and Insulin Resistance Associated with Breast Cancer Risk."
In this article the authors were exploring a relationship between how often we eat, how many night-time calories we eat and the likelihood of cancer (which in this study was breast cancer). At first glance one might say... how can that possibly be related. Well let us dive into the research presented in this article and gain a better understanding!
![Untitled-2 [Recovered].png](https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmQPEBULrVuGMCLnNUrMHti1Qb2h3sjcfGcHc2wgLdPTQJ/Untitled-2%20%5BRecovered%5D.png)
Relationship Between Timing Of Eating and Cancer?
Cancer, often times we think of this as one monolithic disease, however it's actually a blanket term for a variety of different but related disorders that all center around uncontrolled cellular division and growth. How could this set of diseases be related to when we eat? Well the answer to that question potentially lies in inflammation. Inflammation is, if you really boil it down, just our body turning up our immune system functioning. It can occur for a variety of reasons (like a virus, or bacterial infection, or an allergen).
There is a growing body of literature which has been linking cancer, in part, to low levels of inflammation in the body. [3] Inflammation is a common symptom of a variety of other disorders which ARE linked to cancer (Diabetes for example). [4] Where the authors of today's article site previous lab work showing that tumors generally form in cells of a tissue that are inflamed. [5]. Further more, still other studies have shown a relationship between a protein called a c-reactive protein, which is a marker for inflammation, and breast cancer. [6]
Most of you are likely aware that inflammation is influenced by the things we eat, but that is not the topic of discussion for today. Today we are taking a look at the effect WHEN we eat has on our bodies. It may surprise some of you but there is precedent in the literature from animal studies that show differing levels of inflammation relating to how many of times an animal ate throughout the day.[8] The researchers found that by placing the animals on a feeding-fasting regimen (IE only eating for an 8 hour window during the day, and fasting the remainder of the time). It was also shown that mice seemed most effective when synchronized with the animals sleep wake cycle (having the 8 hour window for eating when the animal was typically awake, rather than during a period when they would normally be sleeping). [9] Unfortunately the authors report that human studies do not seem to be able to replicate the information observed in the animal models. [11] (though perhaps newer research has changed this finding?)
What Were The Authors of Today's Study Looking At?
Data from a 2009-2010 nutrition survey done by the US National Center for Health Statistics. This study considered data from 2650 women who both extensively recorded their diets, as well as had a physical workup performed by a physician.
Using this data the authors looked at how the way those women ate influenced the bio-markers that were analyzed (fasting blood glucose, C-Reacive Protein levels). This allowed the authors to look for associations between diet (and WHEN/HOW OFTEN the women ate) and the aforementioned indicators for diabetes (blood glucose) and inflammation (C-Reactive Protein).
What Did They Observe?
On Average The Women:
- Were 46.8 years old
- Fasted for 12.4 hours per night
- Ate 4.7 times per day
The authors reported some tests from their statistical analysis of the data and found that eating more times per day correlated to an increase in the amount of calories consumed in the evening (p< 0.001), and they found that increase in the night time fasting duration was inversely correlated (meaning if it went up then the other statistic went down) with night time calorie consumption (p< 0.001).
This all makes logical sense. (People who eat more times are more likely to eat in the evening, and fast for a shorter period of time)
They identified some interesting statistical relationships from the data as well:
- Eating frequency was inversely correlated with C-Reactive Protein levels (one additional meal resulted in 8% Less C-Reactive Protein, p=0.03)
- Eating 10% more calories at night resulted in a 3% increase in C-Reactive Protein levels (p = 0.02).
- Women who ate fewer than 30% of their calories in the evening had LOWER C-Reactive Protein levels then those who ate more calories in the evening. (Each additional hour of fasting = 8% lower concentration of C-Reactive Protein)
-None of the fasting information correlated with insulin resistance (in relation to blood glucose concentrations and diabetes).
What Conclusions Do They Draw From This/What Does This Indicate?
Evening calorie intake is associated with increased levels of inflammation (based on the relationship with the C-Reactive Protein, a bio-marker for inflammation). Interestingly the C-Reactive Protein is also a bio-marker for an increased risk of developing breast cancer.
The authors reported that the association between the C-Reactive Protein was independent of other lifestyle choices.
The authors suggest that this data is indicative that meal timing may result in the increased inflammation. They postulate that eating at the wrong time in the sleep wake cycle (later in the evening) could disrupt the sleep wake cycle and this may lead to increased inflammation.
Indeed, they report, there is some evidence in the literature that genes associated with inflammation are expressed more if the sleep wake cycle gets disturbed. [8].
They conclude that:
[The] results of this study suggest that reducing evening energy intake, eating more frequently, and fasting for longer nightly intervals (when fasting is initiated early in the evening) may reduce systemic inflammation in the body which could subsequently reduce breast cancer and chronic disease risk.
However they are careful not to make any BOLD claims and state that these associations require further study (randomized clinical trials) to truly show that changing meal frequency significantly influences inflammation. However if their data is eventually confirmed it would be strong evidence that it is a smart idea to limit the amount of calories we consume in the evening.
It's quite fascinating to me that there is such a relationship! What do you think about this? Are you surprised that eating in the evening could very well lead to greater inflammation and possible health issues?
Answering Our Title Image Question
Does eating more times per day reduce your chance of getting cancer? Possibly (there data shows a slight reduction in inflammation levels with increased number of meals). However eating more, later in the day may very well increase your chance. It seems that as is often the case with biology and our bodies. There is just a lot more to this, then one might initially expect.
Sources
Text Sources
- http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0136240
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammation
- http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v420/n6917/full/nature01322.html
- http://www.jci.org/articles/view/JCI29069
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11866137
- http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/6/3/188
- https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/body-mind-spirit/heart/elevated-c-reactive-protein-crp/
- http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(12)00189-1
- https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article-abstract/72/5/308/1933482/Time-restricted-feeding-and-risk-of-metabolic
- https://sleepfoundation.org/sites/default/files/SleepWakeCycle.pdf
- http://jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(15)00205-1/fulltext
Image Sources
All Non Cited Images Are From Pixabay.com, Flickr.com, Pexels.com, or Wikipedia.com And Are Available For Reuse Under Creative Commons Licenses
Any Gifs Are From Giphy.com and Are Also Available for Use Under Creative Commons Licences
If you like this work, please consider giving me a follow: @justtryme90. I am here to help spread scientific knowledge and break down primary publications in such a way so as to cut through the jargon and provide you the main conclusions in short (well compared to the original articles at least!) and easy to read posts.
SteemSTEM
Secondly, please consider supporting the @steemstem project. SteemSTEM is a community driven project which seeks to promote well written/informative Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics postings on Steemit. The project not only curates STEM posts on the platform through both voting and resteeming, but also re-distributes curation rewards as STEEM Power, to members of Steemit's growing scientific/tech community.
To learn more about the project please join us on steemit.chat (https://steemit.chat/channel/steemSTEM), we are always looking for people who want to help in our quest to increase the quality of STEM (and health) posts on our growing platform, and would love to hear from you!
Awesome article, @justtryme90!
I really enjoyed it and learned something new. If this is the case, I have alot more reason to stay motivated when it comes to cutting down on nighttime eating. I really struggle with that.... especially when it comes to sweets. But thank u for giving me another reason to keep on trying :)
Thanks for reading! I am glad you found some extra motivation within. Limiting nighttime eating is something I struggle with myself.
Well unfortunately I tend to do the exact opposite of what this study recommends - eating infrequent giant meals, often in the evening... No question it makes me feel like crap - so this is another reason to change things up I guess..
@dber try plant based diet, it´s really helpful...
Bummer. Yeah you should probably change it up.
Me too!!
Great article...that mean the cancer will Attacked by disease not only with food but how to eat food...incredible this is new information to me thanks alot.
It's always fun to read your poste. Keep going
Thank you, I appreciate the encouragement.
It's free for you 😍
Nice job. I like as works. Thanks for sharing
Thank you for reading :)
It's good to follow this up article. Bravo @justtryme90 continue
Thank you.
Welcom 😉😉
it'S great poste , Congratulations @justtryme90
Thanks!
You welcom my freind
Woow great work @justtryme90 thank you for sharing and for the infomration
You are quite welcome, thank you for reading!
Is the takeaway that the increase in C-Reactive Protein, in those who eat more calories at night, happens due to the stomach's processing of food increasing the chance of interrupting the sleep-wake cycle?
Which could mean that anything that disturbs your sleep-wake cycle has the same effects?
I don't think there is sufficient information to draw the conclusion that only the only contributing factor is the disruption in the sleep wake cycle. It is however possible that is a contributing factor.
I think more research looking into this specifically would be necessary.
Congratulations for your post, thanks for the information , keep it up
Thanks for the kind words! Most appreciated.
Low-calorie intake has been correlated with a higher life expectancy and low inflammatory response, for instance in malnutrition your defense system is slowed or even shuts down. As C-reactive protein is a marker of chronic inflammation is only natural to expect this.
Frequency has a relatively low impact and depends on the type of food. Carbohydrates have a glucogen pathway that gives a window of approximately 4 hours and Fats close to 8 hours for ketones production.
But what about the situation where total calorie consumption remains the same? But when you consume it changes. The more interesting aspect of this is the timing factor.
Circadian variation was presumed since the beginning of the study. Most animal and human studies have found conflicting evidence regarding frequency of intake and low intake has been the more powerful independent variable, by far. Next is the type of metabolic route.
This study has no power to suggest anything different. This is what some of us call a "We need to publish so we want a grant to study this even if the impact is negligible" publication.
Eh.
Thanks for this. So when you eat fat you make ketones for 8 hours?
No. After approximately 8 hours you start making ketones for as long as the glycolytic pathway is not sufficient.
Suppose you wake up at 6:00 am and you eat avocado, chicken breast and a minuscule portion of bread that morning. if you have low carbohydrates intake for more than 4 hours then you spend your Glycogen (your liver's reserve of glucose) at around 8 hours (2 pm or earlier as the reserves of glycogen are low when you wake up). You are in ketogenesis burning fat. You continue to make ketones for as long as the sources of carbohydrates are low.
In patients with resistant epilepsy, treated with ketogenic diets they are in constant ketogenesis. There could be common but easily treatable complications as constipation, hyperlipidemia, hypoglycemia, and acidosis. So it requires monitoring. Requires consulting a doctor.
Interesting would you recommend that type of diet even for people who are not epileptic?
The sleep diet stuff is very interesting yet I am most fascinated by the idea of inflammation being basically an autoimmune effect. Weird how the human body can be so smart and so dumb at the same time in its self-preservatory efforts (similar to phenomena like fever or frostbite)
Inflammation is a part of the immune system, its not autoimmune. Inflammation results from autoimmune diseases, however that is because it is a part of our immune system from the outset.
The human body is an intricate and incredibly complex machine (more complex then any we have ever built by many orders of magnitude), I am actually amazed that (considering how much is going on, and how minuscule changes wreck functions) we don't have more issues then we do. Life is always teetering on the edge of destruction. All the more reason why studying it is so darn interesting!
Re: autoimmune - ah, I get it. That's what I get for trying to sound smart in front of people who know their shit :D
Yes, that's something I started to realize the further I went in school and life, really. When we look at the the sheer number of things that can go wrong with us (genetically, developmentally, neurologically, various-permutations-thereof-ally) ... it is frankly astounding that there are this many of us alive, walking the earth and healthy as I type this.
Yes, deeply interesting!
The best research I've heard of tends to point towards time-restricted eating - 9 hour time window each day to eat/drink all of your calories. Dr. Rhonda Patrick has good info on it.
I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN! You also sleep better when you stop eating and drinking coffee earlier. I hope YOU have a WONDERFUL day! FOLLOWING YOU FOR SURE!
Thanks for reading. Have a great day as well :)
Thanks for Sharing, always interesting topics!
Thanks to all!
Thanks for giving the post a look!
Very interesting - great post!
Thank you for reading it, I'm glad you found it at least a little informative.
Hi @justtryme90, thanks for your upvote, now I am your follower, do you want follow me. Avout your post it too scare. But it warn me too keep my health. Thank you.
Sometimes we must face things that are scary head on, especially with regards to our health!
Interesting! Nice! I upvoted you!
PD: join me in this world of steemit looking my posts, rare content about this world, maybe you like it, maybe not, anyways, We can grow up toghether follow me and I follow you bro! :D
You know i have been chef for the past 15 years and my eating habit is really very bad, it is mainly my job which made me adopt this bad habit!
The last 15 years, i think i can count on my hand the days that i had a breakfast to start my day, always skipping lunches and had diner late after that all the guests had theirs!
Chef's life is really limit nonsense!
So glad that i stopped and now trying to be back on track, but feeling weird everyday!
I understand, my crazy schedule has resulted in me having a weird and apparently poor eating schedule as well. I obviously need to get back on track as well.
I don't even know what the track looks like!
Very cool findings, but its good to see that the authors are not too bold with their conclusions. They've only found an association between two variables rather than a direct cause and effect.
Great article, thanks for posting. I read though the comments and noticed there was no mention of intermittent fasting. It is based on a similar study where caloric intake in lab animals, was restricted. The long term result showed an increase in longevity. Encouraged by these results, a second study was conducted whereby the animals were permitted free access to food, but the window of time was restricted to only 8 hours; they termed this intermittent fasting. This also showed an increase in longevity. I am not certain the time of day they allowed feeding to occur, or if it would have interrupted the circadian rhythms....
Adapting the findings to humans, shows some good results, as well. Dr. Mike has a very informative video here:
Enjoy
Thanks for giving the post a read and for your input. Have a great one!
Thank you.
Its a good topic and I thought more people should know about.
Cheers
In time people likely will. Time and more research :D
Interesting article.... Most of the total calorie per day should be taken during the day time...high calorie diet at the night(compared to day) not only is less effective for overall metabolism but also has harmful health effects..
Indeed, thanks for reading :)
Ha! I am doing everything wrong but I already knew that XD
Me too
Good Information... @justtryme90
Thank you for kind words.
My Pleasure.. @justtryme90
!Nice Post
Upvoted for you
Keep in touch dear
Thank you!
hello great article I Resteem your post !
Thanks a lot!
I am a great believer of intermitent fasting. I was surprised by the negative correlation between eating frequency and C-Reactive protein levels, though!
Eating a lot at night doesn't contribute to a good sleep; which worsens inflamation even further. It is a pernicious cycle. Perhaps, this should be a way to refine their study further! Not that I think that eating at night is a good habit, but maybe checking how this habit lowers the quality of individuals' sleep and factors in the increased inflammation, would be worth looking into.
You see, research also shows that bad sleep also raises blood sugar levels, another HUGE cause of inflamation ... You know, eating more before bed time, massive levels of glucose in the blood stream, more inflamation, more frequencey of C-reactive proteine, more inflamation, breast cancer etc.. etc... One could just go on, and on, and on ...
Eating less at night, allows for a good night's sleep, you wake up hungry, eat more during the early hours of the day and hopefully in the evening won't feel so peckish! Our imune system would be very grateful indeed! 😅
@justtryme90, thank you for another amazing post! I have only recently come across your blog, but I am already a big fan of your work!
Best 🙃
Note that in this study they reported that night time eating did not result in a change in blood glucose levels.
I also do not think the data here is sufficient to make any claims as to measurements of the effect of disruption of sleep. It may or may not happen, but would require further study.
I should have thought so, as for the reports on blood sugar level changes! Thank you for pointing this out :D
Thanks for this. I think also if you eat lots of fat it helps.
GOOD fat! Coconut oil, all the way, my friend.
Yeah I agree. Coconut oil you can also use for your skin, hair, to swish in your mouth, for cooking, and for just eating raw, as well as even polishing and maintaining your leather shoes. How do you use it?
I put a little in my coffee, it makes it quite nice.
Good idea, I should try that sometime.
My husband and I live on very different work schedules. I'm the early one. He, as a musician, is mostly a late night person and prone to eating big meals when he gets in from a gig or rehearsal.
I'm pushing this to him. He has had some asthma issues recently and other inflammation issues. I'm hoping he can adjust his eating for awhile to see what effect it may have. I was more concerned about eating large meal and never considered timing of meals.
Looking forward to more studies on this front.
hello that great check out https://steemit.com/art/@vanessa11val/the-dog-looks-at-the-pigeon-and-dog-by-the-meadow
THANKS YOU FOR INFORMATION
IM STEEMIAN INDONESIAN
Nice to meet you. Are there a large group of steemians from indonesia? I know there are quite a few communities forming from various countries.
I'm a steemit account user from indonesia, but i am not one of the members of steemian indonesia .. i am from aceh and i live in jakarta ..
So it's better to say. I am steemian from indonesia who live in jakarta ..
I myself want to form a steemit group from Jakarta.
You definitely should! Thats a sure fire way to build success for all the members of the group. You can all support each other that way :)
Thanks you so much for support from you brother @justtryme90
You're welcome.
@rizwankhan
nice post! helpful article to me because I also likes to eat different dishes many times in a day
@rizwankhan
I just followed and upvoted you for more interesting articles
Thanks, glad you liked it! I followed back.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by justtryme90 from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews/crimsonclad, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
This post has received a 0.63 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.
This post has received a 6.83 % upvote from @buildawhale thanks to: @trumpman. Send 0.100 or more SBD to @buildawhale with a post link in the memo field to bid on the next vote.
To support our curation initiative, please vote on my owner, @themarkymark, as a Steem Witness
Excellent work
Kind words from Taylor Swift yesterday, and Kylie Jenner today. My posts attract quite the set of superstars ;)
Thank you for reading! Most appreciated.
Great works, I wish you success ☺☺