Fasting has been used for
deep meditation and spiritual healing in the past but it goes beyond this.
A study conducted at the University of Southern California suggests that not only can prolonged fasting help prevent immune system damage, but can produce hematopoietic stem cells which generates blood and cells in the immune system. Periods of 2-4 days at a time over a 6-month period was found to destroy aged and damaged cells.
If so, it can be applied to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Although chemotherapy kills cancer cells, it also can destroy everything else in our body, including the immune system. And with this new information, fasting could be an effective way to combat the side-effects of chemotherapy.
Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute, Valter Longo said, “We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system.”
“When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged,” Longo says, “What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”
Meanwhile, some experts are skeptical of the research. For example, Dr. Graham Rook, emeritus professor of immunology at University College London said, “I am not sure fasting is the best idea. People are better eating on a regular basis...”
But my personal experience indicates that my health is better after fasting.
A study conducted at the University of Southern California suggests that not only can prolonged fasting help prevent immune system damage, but can produce hematopoietic stem cells which generates blood and cells in the immune system. Periods of 2-4 days at a time over a 6-month period was found to destroy aged and damaged cells.
If so, it can be applied to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Although chemotherapy kills cancer cells, it also can destroy everything else in our body, including the immune system. And with this new information, fasting could be an effective way to combat the side-effects of chemotherapy.
Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute, Valter Longo said, “We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system.”
“When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged,” Longo says, “What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”
Meanwhile, some experts are skeptical of the research. For example, Dr. Graham Rook, emeritus professor of immunology at University College London said, “I am not sure fasting is the best idea. People are better eating on a regular basis...”
But my personal experience indicates that my health is better after fasting.
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