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February 25, 2012
The findings of an interesting study were published earlier this month in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Scientific experiments of the experts from the University of Southern California have shown that such factor as fasting could play a role in boosting the effectiveness of some treatments and therapies. In particular, after the experiments it became apparent that fasting could work pretty good for those patients who are fighting against certain types of cancers. Combining fasting with chemotherapy turned out to be a great approach to be included to cancer patients’ individual treatment programs.
During the study, it became apparent that cancer cells demonstrated unusual reactions on stress related to fasting compared to usual cells. Fasting stress was not causing cancer cells entering hibernation or dormant phase, but on the contrary: it cause them grow up and divide, that ended up by destroying each other. The researchers from the University of Southern California were very much surprised to see such phenomenon and named it ‘cellular suicide’. 
‘What we’re seeing is that the cancer cell tries to compensate for the lack of all these things missing in the blood after fasting. It may be trying to replace them, but it can’t,’ Professor Valter Longo, one of the study leaders, said.
The experiments included looking at the effects of fasting alone and fasting combined with chemotherapy on such types of cancers as ovarian cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, and urinary tract cancer in lab rats. At that fasting alone proved to be able to slow down tumor development in such types of cancers as breast cancer, skin cancer, and the types of cancers related to nerve tissues. However, combining fasting with chemotherapy was a technique that showed amazing results and allowed increase the effectiveness on cancer treatment to a great extent!
In particular, by using a combination of fasting and chemotherapy 20 per cent of lab rate with aggressive type of cancer and 40 per cent with non-aggressive type of cancer were cured. Californian experts have already announced starting their scientific trials to check out if this scheme is going to work on humans, however, such research may take at least several years. For the moment, scientists warn cancer patients who are underweight against using this technique, as in such case the risks of other serious diseases like diabetes are going incredibly high. The findings of this study are to be presented this summer during an annual meeting of the American Society of Cancer Oncologists in Chicago.
Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.
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