A reduction in calories may have a big impact on immune system and it may be possible to repair a damaged stem cell, new study shows.
Researchers at the University of Southern California have shown that in mice, fasting for 72 hours “flipped a regenerative switch” changing the pathways for hematopoietic stem cells, which are responsible for the generation of blood and immune systems.
“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,” said Prof Valter Longo, Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the University of California.
“We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system,” Dr Longo said. “It gives the ‘OK’ for stem cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system.”
A pilot clinical trial, on a small group of patients who fasted for a 72-hour period before their chemotherapy showss the effects of fasting on chemotherapy. It says that fasting not only takes care of your metabolism, but also provide you protection against the toxic effects of dangerous chemotherapy. The complete study was recently published in a journal Cell Stem Cell.
“While chemotherapy saves lives, it causes significant collateral damage to the immune system,” said study co-author Tanya Dorff of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.”The results of this study suggest that fasting might mitigate some of the harmful effects of chemotherapy. However, more clinical studies are needed, and any such dietary intervention should be undertaken only under the guidance of a physician.”
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