A three-day fast is my favorite. And now, researchers have found that a three-day fast reboots your immune system. I love this. I know, I know, fasting is supposed to bring your closer to God, or help you have greater spiritual strength. Or just demonstrate to God that you are seriously seeking Him (because sometimes I only feel tired and not so spiritual). By-the-way, I always fast with water — it’s ok, Pres. Heber J. Grant said so.
But we are physical beings as well as spiritual beings (D&C 89). And they are intertwined.
When you fast for three days, your body resorts to saving energy by using stores of glucose and fat and … white blood cells. This prolonged fasting depletes your white blood cells, and then when you eat again, your body triggers stem-cell regeneration of these immune system white blood cells. The fasting clears out the damaged cells.
“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,” Dr Longo said.
Researchers also noted another benefit of this long fast — an enzyme called PKA, which is linked to aging, cancer, and tumors — is reduced.
Results of prolonged fasting, image credit: http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/abstract/S1934-5909(14)00151-9?innerTabgraphical_S1934590914001519
Fasting for three days also protected cancer patients against the toxic effects of chemotherapy (Longo, et. al, 2014)
The study included mice and a phase 1 human clinical trail. The highlights of the study include:
•Prolonged fasting downregulates a IGF-1/PKA pathway in stem cells
•Prolong fasting protects hematopoietic cells from chemotoxicity
•Prolonged fasting cycles promote HSC self-renewal to reverse immunosuppression
•Inhibition of IGF-1 or PKA signaling mimics the effects of prolonged fasting
As usual, there is always some professor-scientist who disagrees — even going so far to say it would be better to synthesize drugs for the same effect, instead of fasting. What??? Drugs instead of a healthy fast? He must be getting kickbacks from the drug companies.
“But I think the most sensible way forward would be to synthesize this effect with drugs. I am not sure fasting is the best idea. People are better eating on a regular basis.” (Chris Mason, Professor of Regenerative Medicine at UCL)
Dr Longo added: “There is no evidence at all that fasting would be dangerous while there is strong evidence that it is beneficial.
I have always benefited more from a three day fast than just the “miss two meals” fast, or 24 hr fast. It really takes me a day to get into a fast, and after that, I realize that I’m in control. Now I’ll get physical benefits as well as spiritual. Yea, I’m old enough to have some old damaged cells that need to be replaced.
References:
Chia Wei-Cheng of USC Davis was first author of the study. Gregor Adams, Xiaoying Zhou and Ben Lam of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC; Laura Perin and Stefano Da Sacco of the Saban Research Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; Min Wei of USC Davis; Mario Mirisola of the University of Palermo; Dorff and David Quinn of the Keck School of Medicine of USC; and John Kopchick of Ohio University were co-authors of the study. (USC News)
