According to Longo, when a body is in starvation mode, it attempts to save energy and one of the ways to do this is to recycle the immune cells that aren’t necessary at that time. This includes majorly those that could be damaged. 72 hours of fasting regenerates the immune system and reverts the harmful effects of chemotherapy.
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Fasting for 72 hours also protected cancer patients against the toxic impact of chemotherapy. According to Tanya Doruff Assistant professor of clinical medicine at the UC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital. "While chemotherapy saves lives, it causes significant collateral damage to the immune system. The results of this study suggest that fasting may mitigate some of the harmful effects of chemotherapy,"
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Although the study has provided remarkable results, researchers and medical professionals feel that more research is required to project the suggestions of 72 hours fasting as a valid option to regenerate immunity. Doctor Dorff concluded by saying that “More clinical studies are needed, and any such dietary intervention should be undertaken only under the guidance of a physician.”
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Chris Mason, Professor of Regenerative Medicine at UCL felt that the study was interesting where fasting seems to reduce the size and quantity of cells and then eating after 72 hours saw a rebound of the same. “That could be potentially useful because that is not such a long time that it would be terribly harmful to someone with cancer”
However, he also felt that the ideal way for such procedures would be to combine them with the prescribed drugs and that fasting wasn’t a very good idea as people would be better off eating a regular healthy diet. (Read here about the new Dash Diet that doctors around the world are recommending to people for losing weight)
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