{"entity":{"id":"time-restricted-eating","kind":"technology","name":"Time-restricted eating in cancer prevention and survivorship","aka":[],"tldr":"Time-restricted eating means eating within a window of 8-12 hours a day and fasting overnight. It improves blood sugar and weight a little; whether it changes cancer risk or recurrence is unknown.","summary":"An analysis of the WHEL cohort (JAMA Oncology 2016) found that breast cancer survivors fasting fewer than 13 hours overnight had a higher risk of recurrence (HR 1.36), which launched interest in time-restricted eating (TRE). Randomised trials in people with obesity show modest weight loss (1-4%) and improved glycaemic markers, with little extra benefit over calorie restriction alone. In oncology, feasibility trials in breast and prostate cancer survivors show high adherence and reductions in insulin and weight; no trial has a cancer endpoint. TRE is simple, cheap and low-risk for people without cachexia, which makes it attractive for pragmatic prevention trials, but the recurrence signal remains observational.","status":"phase-2","asOf":"2026-09-08","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting","links":[{"label":"Nightly fasting and breast cancer prognosis (JAMA Oncol 2016)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoncol.2016.0164"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["breast-hr-positive","prostate","colorectal"],"sections":["nutrition-lifestyle","prevention"],"technologies":["chronotherapy","structured-exercise-survivorship"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":["outperform-cancer"],"institutions":[],"pathways":["circadian-control"],"terms":["energy-balance","metabolic-syndrome","glycaemic-index"],"trials":["whel"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-survivorship","b-prevention-adoption"],"keyPapers":["paper-marinac-jama-oncol"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Aligning food intake with the circadian day and extending the nightly fast lowers nocturnal glucose and insulin and improves metabolic flexibility, hypothetically reducing growth signalling to residual cancer cells.","strengths":["High adherence compared with calorie counting","Improves metabolic markers","Cheap, scalable"],"limitations":["Cancer outcomes purely observational","Weight loss modest","Unsuitable in cachexia or on some drug schedules"]},"route":"/technologies/time-restricted-eating/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"colorectal","kind":"cancer","name":"Colorectal cancer","route":"/cancers/colorectal/"},{"id":"breast-hr-positive","kind":"cancer","name":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","route":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/"},{"id":"prostate","kind":"cancer","name":"Prostate cancer","route":"/cancers/prostate/"}],"section":[{"id":"nutrition-lifestyle","kind":"section","name":"Diet, Exercise & Lifestyle","route":"/fronts/nutrition-lifestyle/"},{"id":"prevention","kind":"section","name":"Prevention & Risk","route":"/fronts/prevention/"}],"technology":[{"id":"chronotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Chronotherapy: timing treatment to the body clock","route":"/technologies/chronotherapy/"},{"id":"structured-exercise-survivorship","kind":"technology","name":"Structured exercise programmes after curative treatment","route":"/technologies/structured-exercise-survivorship/"}],"company":[{"id":"outperform-cancer","kind":"company","name":"Outperform Cancer","route":"/companies/outperform-cancer/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"circadian-control","kind":"pathway","name":"Circadian control","route":"/pathways/circadian-control/"}],"term":[{"id":"energy-balance","kind":"term","name":"Energy balance","route":"/terms/energy-balance/"},{"id":"glycaemic-index","kind":"term","name":"Glycaemic index and glycaemic load","route":"/terms/glycaemic-index/"},{"id":"metabolic-syndrome","kind":"term","name":"Metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance","route":"/terms/metabolic-syndrome/"}],"trial":[{"id":"whel","kind":"trial","name":"WHEL (Women's Healthy Eating and Living)","route":"/trials/whel/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-prevention-adoption","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Prevention we already have is not deployed","route":"/bottlenecks/b-prevention-adoption/"},{"id":"b-survivorship","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Survivorship and late effects are neglected","route":"/bottlenecks/b-survivorship/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-marinac-jama-oncol","kind":"paper","name":"Prolonged Nightly Fasting and Breast Cancer Prognosis","route":"/key-papers/paper-marinac-jama-oncol/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"nutrition-lifestyle-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Diet, exercise and lifestyle roadmap: causes established → interventions that disappointed → exercise proven as treatment","route":"/roadmaps/nutrition-lifestyle-roadmap/"}]}}