12/19/19
We've previously explored how fasting can be an effective medicine for most common diseases. Metabolism has a hand in nearly every function of our bodies. We are always either building up (anabolism) or breaking down (catabolism) compounds to release or store energy. It's what keeps us living, so it makes sense that the intricacies of this process include everything from removing toxins to using ketones as fuel when we're low on glucose and glycogen.
But how does fasting really have anything to do with cancer? It's much easier to understand that fasting can prevent type two diabetes because it lowers insulin resistance, but where do the products of fasting attack cancer cells? For one, obesity is a condition that amplifies chances of developing others like heart disease, so being at a healthy weight, you are certainly less likely to develop cancer than if you were obese. Again, studies have pointed towards some of the consequences I'll talk about, but there has not been enough to universally prove it, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt.
To understand what we're dealing with, let's first understand the ins and outs of a cancer cell. The simple definition of a cancer cell is a cell that is not properly signaled to stop reproducing. Because of this, cancer grows to form tumors, spreading more cells throughout the body and interfering with bodily functions. A normal cell knows when to stop growing, specializes to become a certain cell (epigenetics), and self-destructs (apoptosis) when it's damaged or old. A cancer cell doesn't do any of this properly.
In order to fight these characteristics of cancer cells, we need to control a few important pathways. Most importantly, effective DNA repair prevents the mutations that can lead to cancer. Additionally, increased apoptosis and autophagy cleans out damaged, old cells that can secrete damaging signals if they hang around too long. Lower oxidative stress and slower proliferation of cells reduce the possibility of damage or mutation.
Throughout fasting, our bodies go into protection mode and hit on a few of these cleansing processes. First, it lowers IGF-1 (Insulin-like growth factor). High levels of IGF-1 can promote metastasis and growth of cancer cells, and prevent apoptosis. It also lowers insulin and inflammation. The protective state our bodies enter triggers a series of protein kinases that I've touched on before. mTOR is inhibited while AMPK and the Sirtuins are activated. They regulate metabolism, and it's hard to see exactly what they're doing, but studies have shown that they are catalysts for that "cell cleaning" that can prevent cancer. Modifying the proteins in this way increases autophagy and DNA repair in the cell.
On top of reducing cancer incidence, fasting can increase the effectiveness in treatment of cancer patients. The combination of chemotherapy or radiation and fasting helps the immune system fight tumor cells. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes are white blood cells that are essentially "tumor killers," and they are significantly increased.
Interestingly, the protective state that I mentioned before does not do anything to protect cancer cells, so treatment is still effective, but the rest of the body's cells receive less of the force. In a study on mice, there were two groups that were "treated" with a ridiculous amount of radiation. The control group was fed ad libitum (as much as they wanted) before getting hit, while the other fasted directly before treatment. The radiation was as significant to mice as the nuclear fallout in Chernobyl was to humans, and the fast can be roughly equated to a 48 hour fast in humans. The control group died within the week, while the fasted group lived for a month or longer.
Longevity seems to be a broad term but can be whittled down to two desired outcomes: lifespan and healthspan. Lifespan is how many years lived, while healthspan focuses on the mental and physical ability during those years. Before we can extend these beyond what our plateau seems to be (a little past 100 years), we need to make sure that everyone can get there in the first place. The single reason many don't is disease. Heart disease kills 646,000 people in the US every year - about 1 in 4 American deaths, while cancer ends 607,000 lives. Before we can live to be 150, we need to cure these diseases. Fasting is a tool that should be used more often to remain healthy and reduce the risks of these diseases, at least until we have more advanced tech and medicine. Even still, many of the answers are surely in the pathways that were taught to us by the timeless practice of fasting.
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Here's a link to the cancer treatment study.
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