A plethora of data exists regarding the benefits of calorie restriction. Calorie restriction has been shown to increase healthspan and lifespan in all species studied. Interestingly, calorie restriction, or intermittent fasting, has been shown to be beneficial to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy; https://news.usc.edu/103972/fasting-like-diet-turns-the-immune-system-against-cancer/
A study led by Valter Longo, was published in the journal Cancer Cell on July 11, days after BMC Cancer published a separate study showing that a pilot trial of the three-day, fasting-like diet was “safe and feasible” for 18 cancer patients on chemotherapy. The mouse study on skin and breast cancers is the first study to show that a diet that mimics fasting may activate the immune system and expose the cancer cells to the immune system,” Longo said. The two studies’ findings build upon prior research that showed a short-term fast starves cancer cells and facilitates the chemo drug therapies to better target the cancer.
Another more recent study showed that a low-calorie, fasting-mimicking diet can slow multiple sclerosis by killing off bad cells and generating new healthy ones. The results of this latest mouse study are striking since chemotherapy’s side effects include immunosuppression. The researchers found that the fasting-mimicking diet, when used with chemotherapy drugs, raises the levels of bone marrow cells that generate immune system cells, such as T cells, B cells and “natural killer” cells that infiltrate tumors.
In the mouse study, scientists saw another significant effect of the diet: the “T regulatory” cells which protect the cancer cells were expelled. They also found three cycles of the fasting diet, combined with doxorubicin, prompted a 33 percent increase in the levels of cancer-fighting white blood cells and doubled the number of progenitor cells in the bone marrow. The cancer-killing cells were also more effective at attacking and shrinking the tumors. The research team also found that 72 hours of fasting, in patients undergoing chemotherapy, is associated with lower side effects, compared with fasting for 24 hours. This raises the possibility that a doctor-monitored, fasting-like diet could bolster the effectiveness of immunotherapy on a wider range of cancers.
You can access this study here.
~ Dr. Rosenberg
healthyliving May 2nd, 2017
Posted In: Cancer Prevention
Tags: calorie restriction, cancer, cancer prevention, fasting
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Dr. Mark Rosenberg received his doctorate from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1988 and has been involved with drug research since 1991.