Science explores the value of fasting to fight

cancer
Researchers on aging and oncology explore the benefits of quitting for one or more days

A cook in London prepares Ramadan dishes, a type of fast. Getty

Last May, 20 healthy young people, including several scientists, arrived at a research institute in Madrid willing to spend a
day and a half without eating. Just before they had a blood test and 36 hours later, they did another to make sure they had not
taken something sneaky. The aim was to uncover the molecular mechanisms behind fasting and its health benefits, especially
as a possible weapon against cancer.

Fasting for days or weeks, with only water or dispensing only with some kind of food, or limiting the hours of the day when
you can eat, is an almost universal practice among major religions. Some attribute regenerative qualities to it. From a
scientific point of view, fasting seems to provide longevity and better health in animal studies and does not require as many
penalties as calorie restriction . And it seems that some of the fastest and most obvious benefits are obtained by animals with
tumors.

When someone stops eating one or more days, their metabolism changes in the face of stress. Cellular proliferation slows
down, activates the autophagy process in which the body removes old or defective cells and, in general, begins to feed on its
own energy reserves. At the moment, it is unknown how and why this practice appears to be beneficial to health.

Mice with cancer treated with chemotherapy and fasted respond better to treatment and recover before side effects

Valter Longo's team at the University of Southern California is one of the most advanced in fasting research on both healthy
and sick people. Their experiments have shown that a fasting of one or more days causes cancer mice treated with
chemotherapy to respond better to treatment and to recover before side effects.

Spending several days without eating periodically (there is no unified definition of fasting in scientific terms) would be too
hard a test for many people. That is why Longo has developed a low-calorie diet that mimics the effects of fasting while
continuing to eat. When given this diet to mice with breast and skin cancer, their immune system seems to wake up from
lethargy and begins to recognize and annihilate tumor cells, something that does not happen in well-fed rodents. According to
Longo, fasting has a "rejuvenating" effect on the organism, both in animals and humans. "In a pilot study with healthy
volunteers we saw that the fasting-mimicking diet reduced cardiovascular risk, glucose levels [diabetes risk factor], and IGF-1
levels, a potential cancer marker, as well as eliminating Abdominal fat ", explains the researcher. The diet in question has 60%
fewer calories than the normal diet of each individual. In the trial, volunteers followed this diet for five days, then returned to
normal eating for another three weeks and then repeated the same cycle another two times.

At the National Cancer Research Center in Madrid, the team of Manuel Serrano has revealed one of the possible responsible
for the benefits of fasting in cancer. Until recently, research in this field had focused on caloric restriction, much more radical
and difficult to maintain. "Caloric restriction has undesirable effects, is constantly hungry, libido is almost zero and social life
is reduced, as it often happens around food," explains Serrano. In this sense, fasting and mimicking their effects with low
calorie or drug diets may be much more feasible, especially in the context of cancer.

Fasting can lead to headaches or stress and should never be performed without the supervision of a physician.

In a recent experiment, their team showed that the mice that are stripped of food for a day or two are given the expression of
the P21 gene, a major tumor suppressor. In the experiment with volunteers with which this story began, carried out at the
Imdea Alimentacin Institute and whose results are to be published in a scientific journal soon, according to Serrano, it has
been shown that the same thing happens in humans.

"We have seen that levels of P21 increase with fasting and fall again as soon as you eat," explains Pablo Fernndez-Marcos, a
co-author of the study who decided to join the experimental group and test the lack of food in their own meats. "None of the
participants had any problems, although in some cases fasting can lead to headaches or stress," he explains.

The researcher reasons the connection between the gene studied and the beneficial effects in cancer. "P21 stops cell
proliferation especially in organs such as the hair, intestine, bone marrow, which are some of the most affected by chemo," he
explains. Now the team is considering whether P21 is the cause of the observed benefits and not a mere collateral reaction.

One of the ways of research is to look for molecules that activate some of the "metabolic pathways" that start with fasting,
such as "the drop in insulin or that of ketone bodies that transform stored fat into energy for the brain "Says Fernndez-
Marcos. In the future, these types of drugs could be applied to the healthy population, but first they will reach the cancer
patients because "it is easier since the effects observed are very fast," he says.

The Longo team is conducting new trials with healthy people and others with cancer and their diet that mimics fasting to
confirm if it really is beneficial. Many of his researches have been funded by public agencies such as the National Institutes of
Health. His work is not without controversy, because the scientist never reveals the exact composition of his diet in his
studies. Instead it has decided to market it

We still do not know if fasting has effects of metabolic adaptation, the data are simply not there yet "
The researcher warns that no one should try fasting without the supervision of a doctor, but his diet, Prolon , based on energy
bars, juices and other packaged foods, is sold online in the US, Australia, Italy and, through This country, could be acquired in
Spain, says the Italian-American biochemist. The researcher started this project a year ago. He says that with the data from the
pilot study, and what he has to publish, it is "very reasonable to market this diet," and ensures that he will donate the benefits
he obtains with his company L-Nutra to an NGO.

Experts consulted send a message of hope in the potential of fasting, but also send a note of caution to miracle diets. "All data
available in experimental models, including primates , support these nutritional interventions," says Carlos Lpez-Otn,
University of Oviedo. But he adds that "human studies are very preliminary and in some cases indirect, which invites
maximum prudence," he adds.

Jos Ordovs, an expert in nutrition and genomics at Imdea Nutricin and at Tufts University (USA), believes that "a diet rich
in products derived from plants, fruits and vegetables is likely to have similar effects" to that of Longo. "My concern is that at
no time do they compare their diet to a diet that anyone can prepare at home, rather than buying it prefabricated in plastic or
aluminum bags in the form of soups or nutritional bars," he adds. In addition, the researcher points out that "none of [Longo's]
articles describes what this diet consists of and only speaks of" proprietary "ingredients, which" is not consistent with the fact
that much of this research has been carried out Out with public funds, and therefore discoveries and benefits should be public,
"he adds.

Luigi Fontana, a researcher at the University of Brescia (Italy) and Washington University in San Luis (USA), is another
leader in the research on fasting in humans. Some years ago he signed several articles with Longo describing the potential of
fasting for health, but now says that he "does not want to comment on his colleague's studies." He has also designed a type of
fast simulated and open to the public: for two or three days, eat only vegetables, as many as you want, and a spoonful of olive
oil for food. In a six-month clinical trial whose data will be published soon, his team has observed very significant weight
loss, up to "16 kilos in six months," with this diet, he says.

The researcher warns that there is as yet no reliable human data to back up some of Longo's claims and his trading diets. "We
still do not know if fasting has effects of metabolic adaptation, simply the data are not yet there and the mice are not human,"
he says. Fontana also does not believe that they can find "two or three pills" that can "deceive the body" and bring the benefits
in longevity and health observed with fasting. In her opinion, the only proven way to achieve real benefits is classic: healthy
lifestyle and exercise. "People like shortcuts, but no one can become a karate black belt with a few tricks," he says.