UMSON Researcher Awarded $1.4M Grant to Study Time-Restricted Eating Effects on Cancer-Related Fatigue

Baltimore, Md. – Can when you eat reduce cancer-related fatigue? The University of Maryland School of Nursing’s Amber Kleckner, PhD, assistant professor, aims to find out, with support from a four-year, $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute. She is examining the role that time-restricted eating plays on reducing cancer-related fatigue and other side effects of treatments.

Cancer is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the world. With technological advances in treatments over the last few decades, there are more cancer survivors than ever. However, many people live with persistent symptoms such as cancer-related fatigue. 

“We still do not understand the underlying mechanisms of cancer-related fatigue and other related symptoms,” Kleckner says. “This makes it difficult to discover preventive treatments for these ailments. Despite widespread dietary recommendations and supplements for patients with cancer in the media, there are very few evidence-based dietary guidelines. We are helping to define what dietary patterns are best during and after treatment so that people can tolerate treatment and heal from the experience as fast as possible.”

People undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, and other cancer treatments endure a large symptom burden, including fatigue, cognitive impairment, pain, and gastrointestinal issues – challenges that persist long after treatment ends and can sometimes prevent people from returning to work, family roles, hobbies, and other activities that really define their sense of self. Treating the side effects of cancer drugs with other drugs can have their own side effects. But nutritional interventions can improve overall health, enhance the ability to heal, and increase resilience against further adverse conditions. 

Based on a large and growing body of research into nutrition and cancer, Kleckner designs and tests nutritional programs to help address these symptoms and help people attain the quality of life they had before their cancer diagnoses. These programs include both what people are eating and when people are eating.

Time-restricted eating is a popular new form of intermittent fasting. It entails only eating during a defined window during daytime hours, since in human circadian biology, energy consumption and utilization coincide with those hours. Deliberately eating food within a 10-hour eating window is hypothesized to help improve circadian rhythms, sleep quality, and energy levels during the day. Kleckner theorizes that time-restricted eating can help mitigate cancer-related fatigue through strengthening circadian rhythms.

Kleckner’s study is recruiting 96 blood cancer survivors experiencing post-treatment fatigue. All participants will be asked to follow an individualized diet plan for 12 weeks; half of the participants will be asked to meet the diet recommendations in a daily 10-hour eating window to see if time-restricted eating reduces fatigue more than the control nutrition program.

Kleckner’s research thus far suggests that following a Mediterranean diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, legumes, lean proteins from fish and poultry, good fats from olive oil, and some dairy, while limiting consumption of sweets and red meats, during cancer treatment will lessen symptom burden. 

Kleckner and her team are gathering data to evaluate their hypothesis that chemotherapy and/or radiation disrupts circadian rhythm and contributes to fatigue, and time-restricted eating can help counter this. 

“Nutrition is really understudied when it comes to cancer-related fatigue,” Kleckner says. “After cancer is diagnosed, people really want nutrition prescriptions. They want to know what they can eat so that they can quickly overcome this cancer and get back to life before cancer.”

That’s when patients turn to the internet, which is full of non-evidence-based nutrition research “because the research hasn’t been done,” Kleckner says. “There’s a huge need from clinicians, a huge demand for more specific nutrition information post-diagnosis.” 

“Nutrition plays a powerful role because eating in a healthier dietary pattern is something people can do,” she continues. “There are so many questions and so many unknowns, but what you’re having for lunch? That’s something you can plan, that’s something you can do, and it can be really empowering.”

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The University of Maryland School of Nursing, founded in 1889, is one of the oldest and largest nursing schools in the nation and is ranked among the top nursing schools nationwide. Enrolling nearly 2,000 students in its baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs, the School develops leaders who shape the profession of nursing and impact the health care environment.