You have probably already heard about the benefits of fasting for health. Although some people think it's a dangerous practice that impacts health, science says the opposite. Even intermittent fasting, which involves limiting eating time to 8 to 10 hours rather than doing without food, has been shown to have many health benefits.
Our first ancestors were doing very well, yet they did not always have access to food. They ate only when they had food and fasted involuntarily. And it's the same with wild animals. They do not eat many times every day, they will stuff themselves when they catch prey, but often spend long periods without eating.
Fasting for only three days can strengthen your immune system
A study published in the June 5, 2014 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell showed that a fast of only three days could not only strengthen the immune system, but also regenerate it completely, contributing to a long life and a good health. The researchers who conducted the study consider it a major step forward. This study shows how starving the body actually stimulates the production of new white blood cells in the stem cells, which will then help fight the infection.
Benefits for cancer patients
Fasting for 3 days also helps protect cancer patients from the toxic effects of chemotherapy. The latter can be very stressful for the immune system, but the results of this study suggest that fasting can help alleviate some of the harmful effects of chemotherapy treatment. In fact, researchers suggest that fasting activates a regeneration switch.
According to Professor Valter Longo, lead author of the study and professor of gerontology and biological sciences at the University of California, the study showed that fasting can help the body produce a new immune system.
The professor explained that fasting allows stem cells to move forward, proliferate, and rebuild the entire system. And the good news is that the body gets rid of parts of the system that could be damaged or old, as well as ineffective parts, during fasting. Even with a system heavily damaged by chemotherapy or aging, fasting cycles can literally generate a new immune system.
During the study, participants were asked to fast regularly for periods of two to four days over a six-month period. Along with the regeneration of the immune system, researchers have also observed a reduction in levels of IGF-1, a growth factor hormone related to aging, tumor progression and cancer risk.
Amazing results
According to Professor Longo, the researchers were actually surprised: they found that the number of white blood cells decreased with prolonged fasting. Then, when the person remixes, the white blood cells come back.
Prolonged fasting not only forces the body to draw energy from its own reserves of glucose and fat, but it also breaks down much of the white blood cells. During each fasting cycle, depletion of white blood cells triggers stem cell-based regeneration of new cells in the immune system.
According to Professor Longo, it was unthinkable that prolonged fasting had such a remarkable effect on the regeneration of the hematopoietic system from stem cells. He explained that when we are hungry, the system tries to save energy and one of the things it does to save energy is to recycle a lot of the unnecessary immune cells, especially those that could be damaged.
