Fasting is practiced around the world for many different reasons. It has been a spiritual practice for thousands of years, but we are just now seeing the amazing effects it has on your body!
Scientists and researchers have been studying the effects of fasting on the body for the past decade, and they have found some amazing discoveries. According to the researchers from The University of Southern California, fasting for just three days can completely revolutionize your entire immune system! Fasting diets have been highly criticized by dieticians for years now, but this new research shows that even elderly people can benefit from fasting for just three days.
The researchers describe their findings as truly groundbreaking, and remarkable in finding natural methods to boost the immune system. The new study suggests that starving the body kick starts the stem cells into producing new white blood cells, fighting off infection. It could be beneficial to people suffering from damaged immune systems and even cancer patients dealing with chemotherapy. Fasting for seventy-two hours can protect cancer patients against the terrible effects of chemotherapy. The results of the study suggest that fasting may alleviate some of the horrible effects of chemotherapy.
During the study the researchers said fasting flips a regenerative switch that prompts stem cells to create new white blood cells, essentially regenerating the entire immune system. Lead researcher of the study, Professor Valter Longo, head of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the University of California, says that the study proves fasting could indeed help the body to produce a new immune system.
He says, “It gives the ‘OK’ for stem cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system. 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 aging, fasting cycles can generate, literally, a new immune system.”
The researchers and Longo were surprised at the results of the study. They found that fasting can also reduce the enzyme PKA, a hormone that increases cancer risk and tumor growth linked to aging.
“We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system. 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,” Professor Longo added.