Recently, a research by a team from University of Southern California claimed that three days’ fasting can effectively regenerate our immune systems. This brilliant discovery can organically lead to a better and healthier immune system.
New findings about fasting
Earlier, fasting was not supported by doctors and nutritionists. However this research shows how fasting can help in the creation of new white blood cells, essential in fighting infection. The more we age, the weaker our immune systems become, making us prone to common diseases. This organic method can benefit the elderly and those whose immune system is very weak, like cancer patients. Fasting for 72 hours protects cancer patients from the harmful effects of chemotherapy.
Fasting initiates a regenerative process by producing more white blood cells that reboots the entire immune system. A researcher of this study and a professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences at the University of California, Valter Longo, vouched for this natural approach to immune system regeneration. He says that this process removes the damaged and old components of the system and rebuilds the immune system.
Conducting the study
People participating in the study were initially asked to fast for 2-4 days regularly for 6 months. It was seen that starving not only helped in creating a new immune system but also decreased PKA enzyme, which generally causes tumor growth and cancer.
Prolonged fasting made the body use its fat and glucose storage and also the white blood cell level lowered. This reduction causes changes leading to stem cell related regeneration.
Professor Longo said that when we start fasting, our system gets the cue to save energy and it ends up recycling many damaged and unimportant immune cells. They could not believe that this natural method would be so beneficial in stem cell based regenerative process of the hematopoietic system.
