UC Researchers Find Overnight Fasting Could Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

(CBS SF) – Researchers with the University of California researchers have released a study that suggests overnight fasting could reduce the risk of breast cancer among women.

The researchers, who are based at UC San Diego, found women who fasted overnight had better control over blood glucose concentrations, regardless of how much they ate.

Researchers said the study participants ate five times a day and fasted 12 hours on average.

"This is a simple dietary change that we believe most women can understand and adopt. It may have a big impact on public health without requiring complicated counting of calories or nutrients," UCSD doctoral candidate and study co-author Catherine Marinac said in a university statement.

Co-author Dr. Ruth Patterson told the New York Daily News that eating the last meal of the day before 8:00 p.m. is ideal and that fasting from midnight to noon would not have the same effects.

After releasing the results, the scientists recommend large-scale clinical trials.