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Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

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Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#171

Post by mipapage »

justinpaulson wrote: post #168

Thought I would weigh in as I have a personal interest and history with fasting. I once fasted for 25 days on nothing but water. I biked to class and work daily during the fast. After a couple days, hunger cravings disappeared. After two weeks I began to gain a mental clarity that I had not encountered before. I would get a head rush when I stood up too quickly after about 15'r days, but this was remedied by taking a…

I did quite the same for 15 days and had many of the same results. Like anything, until you do it you don't really get the magnitude of the results, in my case like yours also monumental.

I drink a lot of coffee; when fasting I remember that I though differently, less hurried, more clear, and wondered what the field of design would be like without stimulants.

Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#172

Post by halflings »

vladtaltos wrote: post #89
halflings wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> - fasting on Ramadan was probably created by a religious leader who felt better after doing it himself and though it to be a good idea for everybody else to do it. That religious leader would be Muhammad. That's one way to see things and how I explain part of my belief in Islam to non-religious people: Worst case scenario, I'm just doing things that I believe are pretty smart (fasting, praying, helping the poor an…

you're supposed to 'believe' to benefit from the best case scenario dude :) just rationalizing about it is not supposed to be enough... and additionally, fasting was around before it was introduced in islam; check it's versions in judaism, christianity... actually, it was also around before that. people used to fast during equinoxes for a very long time for all sorts of different ceremonies...

Well, Islam does recognize the other prophets and their religions (so that includes Judaism and Christianity). And I don't agree with the fact that "it was around even before that", as people didn't fast regularly and in the same fashion as jews/christians/muslims do.

And IMHO, belief doesn't have to be totally separate from reasoning. We're human beings, our beliefs are definitely influenced by what our reason (among other stimuli) dictates us.

I started my comment by saying that this is one way to see religions, a way that I sometime present to curious non-religious friends. There's also a more philosophical (and comprehensive) way to see them that I can discuss with people that are just more "into that". And of course, as a religious person, I do believe in God but that doesn't mean that it needs to be a blind belief without any reasoning.

Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#173

Post by halflings »

axotty wrote: post #149
anglican1549 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does insecurity come into play? Couldn't there be other reasons for God being adamant about what a person believes (i.e., worships)? What if man's nature really is best nurtured by and finds its completion in (his telos ) the Being called God? If your kids insist on eating cotton candy (which works against their health) amid a veritable feast (that is delightful and nutritious), wouldn't your ire be justified?

Disclaimer: This is my personal belief, it seems it seems to offended some passionate dissenters. I understand, I've been there before too. God is often depicted as moody and chronically concerned with what we think of him. I think that's a ridiculous projection of our own human insecurities. If a creator like God existed, he would be billions of orders of magnitude more intelligent than us. Why would he care if we w…

I looked hard and can't find the exact verse, but there's a specific verse in the Quran that basically says the same thing:

If all of humanity gathered to believe, it wouldn't add Him anything. And if all of humanity gathered to disbelieve, it wouldn't remove anything from Him.

People still have this latent idea of God as an old bearded guy (or any variation of that myth) "interacting" with the world (via spells and miracles).

Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#174

Post by bikamonki »

jstanek wrote: post #123
UserRights wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No reason to downvote this guy, he has a valid point. Scientists should look at the wisdom of people.

It's important to remember that anecdotal evidence is not scientific in any way. Just because there exists "peoples' wisdom" doesn't mean that this wisdom is correct. This is why science exists in the first place, to explore and explain natural phenomena.

Sometimes science is not a discovery endeavour, sometimes it just 'explains' something that we already 'know'; that knowledge may be the product of accumulated experience, intuition, observation or mere chance. It seems valid then, to highlight an old religious ritual like fasting as evidence that such practice works to improve physical health. Do note that the writer of this comment is an atheist.

Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#175

Post by dualogy »

jotm wrote: post #87
atoponce wrote: post #21

I recognize this as completely empirical evidence, so take it as that. I am a Mormon. As part of our religious observance, we fast for 2 meals on the first Sunday of every month. Also, I have fasted for the entire duration of the Muslim month of Ramadan twice now. For Mormons, food and drink is abstained starting Saturday night after dinner until Sunday night's dinner. By the time dinner rolls around Sunday night, I…

Any kind of stress will trigger an increase in immune system activity and cell regeneration. Fasting is one way to do it, working out until you're exhausted is another. A balance between the two is probably best for training your body to be strong.

Yeah and then you catch the flu like anyone else and think, "gee well thanks healthy eating & fasting & working-out, WTF".

> Any kind of stress will trigger an increase in immune system activity and cell regeneration

Would be nice if that extended to smoking but alas..

Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#176

Post by tinco »

shiven wrote: post #64
mknits wrote: post #35

Forget the study, people belonging to Jainism know this for centuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism

Precisely what came to my mind! My Jain friends sometimes fast for multiple days! I have no idea why you are being downvoted.

He is downvoted because his comment consists of two phrases that are both wrong. First:

"Forget the study", he is basically suggesting we should forego science, human kinds only tool to ascertain and record observable truths about the universe we live in.

"people belonging to Jainism know this for centuries", he is suggesting that some people have been aware of white blood cells and their regenerative properties for centuries. This is plain false.

Jainist people might have discovered fasting has positive effects, this is not special at all, almost all religions and belief systems have fasting traditions and attribute positive effects on health to them.

Why would've scientists even bothered to research in this direction if they didn't believe there was something interesting going on there?

Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#178

Post by lotsofmangos »

cbd1984 wrote: post #164
lotsofmangos wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Boffins, are you having trouble communicating the fruits of your labour to a wider audience? Have you spent five thankless years going through stool samples in an attempt to find new treatments for giardiasis only to have your work written up as a single paragraph on page 34 of the Rochdale Observer? Well, worry no more. Drawing on decades of journalistic experience, the Behind the Headlines team has come up with th…

I can just hear the cherry British accent (RP, if you please) soaking through the text.

You should try following 'More or Less' on Radio-4.

Here's their 'Numbers of the Year 2014' -

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/moreorless/moreor...

Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#179

Post by Evgeny »

IvyMike wrote: post #129
atoponce wrote: post #21

I recognize this as completely empirical evidence, so take it as that. I am a Mormon. As part of our religious observance, we fast for 2 meals on the first Sunday of every month. Also, I have fasted for the entire duration of the Muslim month of Ramadan twice now. For Mormons, food and drink is abstained starting Saturday night after dinner until Sunday night's dinner. By the time dinner rolls around Sunday night, I…

Is there any study comparing observant Mormons vs. a similar population showing better health? Likewise, is there any study comparing observant Muslims vs. a similar population showing better health? It would be interesting to see either. I'm skeptical (because I feel like every religion claims that their particular diet has health benefits) but open to seeing a study.

Is there any study comparing observant Mormons vs. a similar population showing better health?

There are studies comparing longevity at least. http://www.scientificintegrityinstitute.org/prevmed2008lifes...

active Mormons from age 25 (Anderson, 1999). Males had a life expectancy of 84.1 years, which was 9.8 years greater than that of 1989–1991 U.S. white males. Females had a life expectancy of 86.1 years, which was 5.6 years greater than that of 1989–1991 U.S. white females

Re: Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system (2014)

#180

Post by shanusmagnus »

mb_72 wrote: post #136
rjurney wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For your Crohn's, fasting would be similar to total bowel rest, wouldn't it? i.e. it would help the bowel heal.

Yes, I believe that is what happens. On the other hand, my symptoms often seem to improve if I eat pizza for each meal for 24hrs (order one night, consume left overs for the next day). :) Crohn's is one illness that attracts more than it's fair share of woo and 'special diets' and so on. As a result I've become fairly sceptical of any one-off scientific papers that make certain claims, whether they are related to aut…

Your skepticism is probably good, but fasting (and its semi-related brother, caloric restriction) has been the subject of scientific investigation for a long time, so 'one-off' hardly captures the essence of it.
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