Possible anticancer power in fasting every other day
When mice ate as important as what they ate in reducing cell division linked to cancer
Fasting every other day reduces some hallmarks of cancer in mice, even when the mice voraciously consume high-fat food between fasts, a study in an upcoming Nutrition shows.
Scientists have known for decades that eating fewer calories — roughly 25 to 50 percent less than recommended — extends life span in animals ranging from worms to dogs. But, “caloric restriction on a daily basis is very hard,” says Eric Ravussin, a physiologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who studies caloric restriction.
Last year, researchers including Krista Varady, then of the University of California, Berkeley, published a study suggesting that a less drastic version of caloric restriction provides a constellation of health benefits in mice. Called alternate-day fasting, the regimen of eating as much food, low-fat in this study, as one wants one day but fasting the next confers some of the same anticancer benefits as just cutting calories at a constant rate, the team found.
But for people, eating a low-fat diet one day and fasting the next is still challenging. Varady and her colleagues wanted to know whether the diet could be made easier to swallow and still provide similar benefits.