Nighttime eating and breast cancer among Chinese women in Hong Kong

• Published in: Breast cancer research : BCR 2017-03, Vol.19 (1), p.31-31, Article 31
• Main Authors: Li, Mengjie, Tse, Lap Ah, Chan, Wing-Cheong, Kwok, Chi-Hei, Leung, Siu-Lan, Wu, Cherry, Yu, Wai-Cho, Lee, Priscilla Ming-Yi, Tsang, Koon-Ho, Law, Sze-Hong, Vermeulen, Roel, Gu, Fangyi, Caporaso, Neil E, Yu, Ignatius Tak-Sun, Wang, Feng, Yang, Xiaohong Rose
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Apnea; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Body Mass Index; Body weight gain; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - epidemiology; Breast Neoplasms - etiology; Calcium; Carcinogenesis; Case-Control Studies; Circadian rhythm; Circadian rhythms; Classification; Coffee; Comorbidity; Dairy products; Diet; Drinking behavior; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food consumption; Food intake; Health risk assessment; Hip; Hong Kong - epidemiology; Hospitals; Humans; Inventories; Meat; Middle Aged; Nervous system; Odds Ratio; Physical activity; Population studies; Population Surveillance; Risk; Shift work; Studies; Time Factors; Vitamins; Womens health; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1465-542X; 1465-5411; 1465-542X
• DOI: 10.1186/s13058-017-0821-x

A novel line of research suggests that eating at nighttime may have several metabolic consequences that are highly relevant to breast cancer. We investigated the association between nighttime eating habits after 10 p.m. and breast cancer in Hong Kong women. A hospital-based case-control study was conducted during 2012-2015. A total of 922 patients with incident breast cancer (cases) and 913 hospital controls were recruited and interviewed using a standard questionnaire including information on eating behavior during both daytime and nighttime. We collected the timing, duration, types and frequencies of food intake of eating at nighttime. Odds ratios (ORs) for the risk of breast cancer in relation to nighttime eating-related variables were calculated by unconditional multivariable logistic regression. Eating at night after 10 pm was significantly associated with breast cancer with an adjusted OR of 1.50 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-2.12, P = 0.02), and the associations were stronger in women who had the longest duration of nighttime eating (≥20 years) (adjusted OR = 2.28 (95% CI 1.13-4.61, P = 0.02) and who ate late (midnight to 2 a.m.) (adjusted OR = 2.73, 95% CI 1.01-6.99, P = 0.04). Interestingly, nighttime eating was only associated with breast cancer among women who consumed staple foods (OR = 2.16, 95% CI 1.42-3.29, P