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Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

nature.com

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Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

#111

Post by Icedcool »

zhynn wrote: post #77
Cro_on wrote: post #10

If there were ever a panacea, it would be fasting. The more tight and widespread the research becomes, the more that we prove what humanity has known anecdotally throughout civilisation. From being a Roman cure for epileptic seizures, through the integral practice in most religions, and to the 21st century where we start to prove that it increases both healthspan and lifespan. I find it quite interesting that somethi…

I always find it funny that fasting comes up so often, but a ctrl-f almost never turns up someone mentioning Ramadan. Nearly 25% of the world population fasts for an entire month, but it's almost invisible to the western world. While I don't agree with all of the details of the fast (I drink water), I think it is an admirable holiday, it's way healthier for the world than Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Great point.

Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

#112

Post by dqv »

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #103
zhynn wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find it funny that fasting comes up so often, but a ctrl-f almost never turns up someone mentioning Ramadan. Nearly 25% of the world population fasts for an entire month, but it's almost invisible to the western world. While I don't agree with all of the details of the fast (I drink water), I think it is an admirable holiday, it's way healthier for the world than Christmas or Thanksgiving.

But they eat each day in Ramadan (at certain times), don't they? How is it even "fasting" and why should it be mentioned?

There are different kinds of fasting. They don't eat from sun rise until sunset during Ramadan. I'd qualify that as fasting.

Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

#113

Post by PoachedSausage »

roystonvassey wrote: post #85
me_me_me wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've gone as long as 12 days with nothing but water. This is dangerous and please don't encourage others to do only water fast. Pure water fast is dangerous beyond 4 days or so. You need to supplement minerals while on per-longed fast. Salt, magnesium and potassium are vital to regulatory processes in your body. When your body uses up all reserves it will not be able to sustain those processes. It is serious busine…

Interesting. Any studies that validate the first point? I recall research talking about how there’s little muscle wastage until day 21 in normal healthy adults. Keen to know if we have learned more in this space

The figure I have seen is that muscle wasting drops to less than 0.2 kg per day once the body fully enter ketosis. Obviously, anyone considering a fast longer than a few days should do so under the supervision of a doctor who can monitor electrolyte levels etc. They can also check for the rare enzyme defect called Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, those with it are unable to fast safely.

Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

#114

Post by Icedcool »

koevet wrote: post #87
zhynn wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find it funny that fasting comes up so often, but a ctrl-f almost never turns up someone mentioning Ramadan. Nearly 25% of the world population fasts for an entire month, but it's almost invisible to the western world. While I don't agree with all of the details of the fast (I drink water), I think it is an admirable holiday, it's way healthier for the world than Christmas or Thanksgiving.

I lived in Saudi Arabia for two years and did Ramadan, out of not wanting to offend my Saudi colleagues who were fasting. As a practictioner of fasting, I don't think that "modern" Ramadan has much to do with fasting anymore - at least, in the way I see fasting working for me. Reason being that at the end of each day of fasting, there is a very large amount of food being consumed, and I mean a lot. Fasting is about c…

Depending on your intent fasting can be for a lot of things.

The health benefits of fasting aren’t about total calorie restriction, but ARE about shifting when you eat to allow your body to kick over into the fasted state for a period of time to get the benefits of that.

I practice a 24 hour fast once a week, for spiritual and health benefits, not to lose weight, and enjoy a very full dinner after the 24 hour fast.

Ramadan looks very much to me to be about fasting, at least spiritually.

Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

#115

Post by batushka3 »

eperfa wrote: post #17

Looks like this study was initiated/sponsored by this company, specifically testing the effectiveness on what they call Fasting Mimicking Diet. https://l-nutra.com/pages/fasting-mimicking-diet If I understand correctly this is a low-calorie diet, which is easier to follow than a strict water-only diet, but they claim it is equally effective. They recommend it also for healthy individuals, 5 days a month. Does anyone…

My little advice would be to pick a right season of the year(if you live in 4 seasons). If you start fasting, from day 2-3 you would feel cold. And if outside is around 0 C and you have to walk somewhere, wind blows, it's not nice. Even sitting in regular office feels colder then.

Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

#116

Post by kamikaz1k »

ip26 wrote: post #106
hourislate wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have fasted 100 lbs away over the last 2 years. I adhere to an 18/6 time delay eating schedule but have done 2-3 day fasts with 1 refeed meal for a month at a time. I've also done countless 5-7 day fasts. I've gone as long as 12 days with nothing but water. There were many months where I could count the number of times I ate on one hand. My last go was every other day with just one meal on my eating days. I did tha…

We need different words, really. You're describing a starvation or calorie reduction fast. More common, and what I practice, is more like a time-shift fast. For example, I exercise in the morning before eating breakfast. This is a fasted state. It trains your body to use fat as fuel. The eventual result of doing this is greater stability in your mood & mind. Your body doesn't crave carbs so much anymore, and you feel…

Not OP, but I agree with you that we need different words. Because what OP is doing is not starvation (till their body is actually wasting away). Having done a few 3 days fasts myself, I can attest to feeling a euphoric energy around day 2 where I felt lighter, and sharper. I have been told it isn't universal, but from the content I have been consuming it has something to do with brain switching to consuming ketones.

Which actually brings me to another point; the brain does not run exclusively on carbs (glucose) - it absolutely has the ability to (and does) functions well on ketones. This is why ketogenic diets can work for many people.

But yes, there's lots of bio-chemical mechanisms that get kicked off when you're fasting for an extended period, so it could be something else that's unique to the people who experience the euphoria.

I am not sure if you've come across this concept, but "Metabolic Flexibility" seems to be trying to explain some of the "after burner" affects of switching around my dieting habits. Where I am no longer exercising strict caloric restrictions, or fasting on a regimen, but I am still observing some of the benefits of when I switched over. (Less bloating, more energetic even after a large meal, less voracious appetite on normal days).

Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

#119

Post by sandworm101 »

koevet wrote: post #87
zhynn wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find it funny that fasting comes up so often, but a ctrl-f almost never turns up someone mentioning Ramadan. Nearly 25% of the world population fasts for an entire month, but it's almost invisible to the western world. While I don't agree with all of the details of the fast (I drink water), I think it is an admirable holiday, it's way healthier for the world than Christmas or Thanksgiving.

I lived in Saudi Arabia for two years and did Ramadan, out of not wanting to offend my Saudi colleagues who were fasting. As a practictioner of fasting, I don't think that "modern" Ramadan has much to do with fasting anymore - at least, in the way I see fasting working for me. Reason being that at the end of each day of fasting, there is a very large amount of food being consumed, and I mean a lot. Fasting is about c…

I used to live there too. In the 90s. I doubt total calorie consumption drops during ramadan. Rather, meals just happen at different times.

Re: Fasting improves chemotherapy results and protects from side effects: study

#120

Post by rladd »

cellularmitosis wrote: post #64
markus92 wrote: post #27

Interesting study with, as always, a lot of caveats. The most we can take from this is that it's worth to study more, the effect is existing but not extreme. I don't get the submitted title here claiming that it protects from side effects. The study does not mention this at all, just that the side effects are similar despite omission of dexamethason in the fasting arm of the trial - it increases appetite, so makes se…

Do you have any info as to which fasting schedule is most effective?

This is what they mean by fasting mimicking diet, and includes the schedule: https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(15)...
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