These days there are so many suggestions and guidelines about the types of foods you should be eating or avoiding to sustain healthy aging. Trying to distinguish between sugars, grains, carbs, and proteins, it’s not always easy to figure out what’s the best way to go.

And now, some new research- not about what you are eating but about when you eat it. In a new study from Spain, the country where eating dinner before 10:00 pm is considered to be in poor taste, comes research from the Barcelona Institute of Global Health that completely contradicts that behavior. Researchers found evidence that earlier dinner times correlate with a lower risk of prostate and breast cancer. While it’s been recognized wisdom for a long time that you shouldn’t eat close to bedtime, this new study builds on known associations between diet and cancer to conclude that daily circadian rhythms also play a role in the incidence of cancer. Read more about this studyHere.

And now that you know when to eat, how do you figure out if the food you’re eating is safe and healthy? For example, what should you do about those confusing dates on your food items? Should you use that jar of sauce if it’s well beyond the “sell by” date? Or what about the label recommendation of “best if used by”? Will you be struck by lightning if you consume the item a month later? Well, for some sage advice about how to determine the safety of “expired” foods, take a look at this recent article from Consumer Reports. And if you’re like many of us and struggle to figure out the meaning of food labels- For example, if something is “all natural” is it also organic?  Or does sugar-free mean the same thing as low-fat? Find out the skinny by checking out this helpful piece from Longevity about how to interpret what often seems undecipherable.