Posted on 06/17/2014 12:49:38 PM PDT by Phillyred
Fasting for as little as three days can regenerate the entire immune system, even in the elderly, scientists have found in a breakthrough described as "remarkable". Although fasting diets have been criticised by nutritionists for being unhealthy, new research suggests starving the body kick-starts stem cells into producing new white blood cells, which fight off infection. Scientists at the University of Southern California say the discovery could be particularly beneficial for people suffering from damaged immune systems, such as cancer patients on chemotherapy. It could also help the elderly whose immune system becomes less effective as they age, making it harder for them to fight off even common diseases. The researchers say fasting "flips a regenerative switch" which prompts stem cells to create brand new white blood cells, essentially regenerating the entire immune system. Related Articles Bosses should allow staff afternoon naps at work to boost productivity, scientists say 05 Jun 2014 Sleeping with light on increases risk of obesity 30 May 2014 Watching pornography damages men's brains 29 May 2014 Retirement is liberating – I’m learning to foxtrot 08 Jun 2014 Clients not wedded to Ayesha Vardag’s big day 08 Jun 2014 Why brights are big this season - and how to wear them 08 Jun 2014 "It gives the 'OK' for stem cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system," said Prof Valter Longo, Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the University of California. "And the good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the fasting. “Now, if you start with a system heavily damaged by chemotherapy or ageing, fasting cycles can generate, literally, a new immune system."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Starving to life, eh?
I went 3 weeks without eating a couple of years ago.
Didn’t do me any visible good.
>>There’s no such thing as “intestinal flu” or “stomach flu”. Flu is a viral infection that affects the whole body, and last several days to a week. What people call “stomach flu” is really just food poisoning.
I had Norovirus last fall. It only affected the digestive system and it affected that BIG TIME! Lasted for 3 days.
Call me a purist, but I don't consider that really fasting.
There are evangelical groups who advocate doing a 40-day fast. I think it borders on legalism and fleshly pride, especially when they write a book about it.
What would this do to people with autoimmune diseases. Or would people be more likely to develop autoimmune diseases after fasting?
I’m having a very difficult time believing this, but who knows....
I’m not very old, and during my time I’ve heard of results from so many “studies” indicating so many things, it’s all just noise to me.
We can be sure there will be another study indicating the opposite sometime. There should be a STUDY that investigates how often the results of these studies turn out to be true. Now that would be really interesting.
They could also do computer models that predict the results of future studies!
True, but when people talk about “stomach flu”, they are talking about a short term illness that is mostly confined to the digestive tract. In the vast majority of cases, that’s due to food poisoning, which is bacterial in nature, and has nothing to do with the flu. But “stomach flu” sounds much better than Salmonella.
They sure won’t be emitting any greenhouse gasses.
so the people in Ethiopia should be extremely healthy
yea
just feels like more spin from the 0bama commies that have been pushing the ‘do with less’ attitude (if you’re use to less then you won’t notice the crapped out economy)
I’ve done quite a few weeklong fasts over the years with the longest one being 9 days....ate no food but drank as much water and pure grape juice as I wanted (typically a gallon of grape juice a day). I also exercised at a fairly high level throughout the fasts…running 5 to 10 miles per day. I wasn’t particularly overweight for any of these fasts or doing it to lose weight but I did of course do that dramatically to the extent that everyone used to say “you can’t possible lose that much weight that quickly and have it good for you”. I’ve never found a fast to be that hard to do and I always was left with the sense that it was beneficial once it was over i.e. just the idea of ‘cleaning out one’s system so thoroughly. I mostly did my fasts during university days but was thinking about this recently when one of my brother’s in laws ended up in the hospital with a ruptured colon and sepsis ….slowly recovering but he will never be the same and I think it safe to say that regular fasts would have been quite helpful for him. When I saw this article a week or so ago, I made the decision to do at least a 4 day fast before the end of June….it’s been over ten years since I last did one and my motivation is to see if I can reverse the effects of a small patch of psoriasis on my one arm that has been persistent and won’t go away. Essentially, I can see how the reboot of the immune system is quite possible and this would be worthwhile to try for that reason.
The headache it would give me would be a BIG deal. I have always been that way, I tried a vegetarian diet a few years ago and that was a disaster. I need meat/protein and I need it often.
You would be a sadder Budweiser man...
In general, how well you handle an extended fast seems to be related to how quickly your body converts to using your own body's reserved for energy, as opposed to energy from regular meals. And it seems that people who fast on a fairly regular basis can make that change more quickly, alleviating the many of the problems most people experience.
Keep in mind that that going long periods between meals is the norm in nature, not the exception. Humans are unique in that their ability to gather, store, grow and harvest their foods allows them to eat on a very regular basis.
You really should read the whole story. They are specific in the length of fast about which they are talking. Their studies showed that a 2-4 day fast generally resulted in the body reducing the number of white blood cells (conserving energy due to the fast, etc.) Then, when the subjects began eating again, the body had to create new white blood cells, which "renewed" the immune system.
Obviously, this does not apply to cases of chronic and extreme starvation. You may disagree with the conclusion these researchers propose, but your comment does nothing to add value to the conversation.
When you fast from Chinese food, you feel full an hour later.
These day I fast every other day or about 30 hours at a time.
I do this because I want to lose weight but I’m not good at portion control.
I’ve dropped about 25 pounds in the last year with this technique.
Two years ago, I would fast for two consecutive days a week or about 55 hours. I dropped 20 pounds with that method. But I found that by the second day of the fast I began to get weak and I didn’t work very well—so I switched to every other day.
I eat when I feel weak. I’ll usually start with a piece of chocolate and honey. I’m instantly rejuvenated. Food for the rest of the day tastes good.
On fast days I drink a lot of water and tea.
I like the body’s first reaction to hunger which is to become much more alert. Fasting feels like it sets off a different system in the body. The system is so different and complete that I don’t think the body is actually designed for three squares a day. But rather, the body is designed for intermittent eating. That is, while for most people, the hunter gatherer days are a couple of millenniums in the past — our bodies are still designed for a hunter gatherer world.
Likely a perfect diet would be a paleo diet with intermittent fasts.
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