Cancer cells need glucose to thrive, and carbohydrates turn into glucose in your body. In order to starve the cancer cells, you have to eliminate its primary food source, i.e. the sugars, which include all non-vegetable carbohydrates, (grains). Physiologist Dr. Otto Warburg received a Nobel Prize back in 1934 for his research identifying cancer’s primary fuel was from anaerobic fermentation of glucose. He clearly demonstrated that cancer cells require sugar to thrive. More recent research7 has also concluded that sugar appears to initiate cancer growth.
One of the key mechanisms by which sugar promotes cancer and other chronic disease is through mitochondrial dysfunction (cell dysfunction). When your body burns sugar for its primary fuel, far larger levels of reactive oxygen species are created, which generate secondary free radicals that cause mitochondrial and nuclear DNA damage, along with cell membrane and protein impairment. Cancer is but one potential outcome of this kind of DNA damage.
Late-night snacking, especially with carbohydrates, can increase these risks even further. There is quite compelling evidence showing that when you supply fuel to the mitochondria in your cells at a time when they don’t require large amounts, like when you are sleeping, there is an accumulation of unused fuel for energy which in turn liberates reactive oxygen species (free radicals), setting into motion the same cascade of mitochondrial and DNA damage.
Therefore, eating shortly before going to bed is likely a very bad idea, considering your cells need the least amount of fuel when you’re sleeping. Four hours of fasting before bedtime is a good idea, as is not eating later than 6 pm. Another piece of good advice is to have a larger meal at lunch time and a smaller meal in the evening.
Reference: Mercola