• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system

Antares in NYC

Senior Member
Messages
582
Location
USA
Not specific to CFS, but I though it would be relevant to post here:

Fasting triggers stem cell regeneration of damaged, old immune system
Protection from chemotherapy immunosuppression indicates effect could be conserved in humans

In the first evidence of a natural intervention triggering stem cell-based regeneration of an organ or system, a study in the June 5 issue of the Cell Stem Cell shows that cycles of prolonged fasting not only protect against immune system damage — a major side effect of chemotherapy — but also induce immune system regeneration, shifting stem cells from a dormant state to a state of self-renewal.
In both mice and a Phase 1 human clinical trial involving patients receiving chemotherapy, long periods of not eating significantly lowered white blood cell counts. In mice, fasting cycles then “flipped a regenerative switch,” changing the signaling pathways for hematopoietic stem cells, which are responsible for the generation of blood and immune systems, the research showed.

The study has major implications for healthier aging, in which immune system decline contributes to increased susceptibility to disease as people age. By outlining how prolonged fasting cycles — periods of no food for two to four days at a time over the course of six months — kill older and damaged immune cells and generate new ones, the research also has implications for chemotherapy tolerance and for those with a wide range of immune system deficiencies, including autoimmunity disorders.

“We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system,” said corresponding author Valter Longo, Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute. Longo has a joint appointment at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

“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,” Longo said. “What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”
(...)

https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regeneration-of-damaged-old-immune-system/
 
Messages
16
Location
Norway
I have read about a Norwegian girl who was cured from her ME by following the 5:2 diet. This might explain why she got better
 
Messages
211
well, a lot of people recovering from finasteride side effects do fasts and a lot of them get better, some got even cured by it, especially 10+days of water fasts. and the effects of that drug are pretty persistent...
 
Messages
211
no scientifical sources as this syndrome isn't even recognized yet by the medical community (thought there's some studies happening) but empirical sources only.

Just do a search on http://propeciahelp.com/forum/ and solvepfs.com (you need to subscribe).

Many of the recovery stories involved fasting, which represented many times a turning point either towards full recovery or improvement in digestion, brain fog, sleep, weight, etc..
 
Messages
211
but mind you there's not many recovery stories lol.
here's two guys who fasted:
-> cdnuts used a lot of stuff but he also did 3 times 20 days water fast: http://propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=8271&hilit=cdnuts
-> queg: fully recovered 6 months after a 10 days fast: propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8506&start=20

These 2 guys were in a pretty bad state...that includes loss of body hair, penile plaques and loss of size, depression, anxiety, insomnia, constant fatigue, and some more stuff. check it out

i know this is different from CFS but I think there are some common symptoms and biomarkers like depleted gluthatione
 

Biarritz13

Senior Member
Messages
699
Location
France
Hi everyone,

I exchanged some emails with the Professor in charge of the study.

He told me they were doing clinical studies on multiple sclerosis and it looks promising.
He also said that it could work for ME (but there are always risks so you need to get the ok from the doctor) like once a month for 5 days with 200 calories of vegetables/soups per day.

I am from France and here we have a channel called "Arte" which is basically a franco-german documentary channel. They put on TV a doc regarding fasting and it was amazing.

This is the link of the doc but unfortunately you will only find it in French or German (click here).

There is 3 parts:

1/ Soviets have discovered it by accident in a mental institution, a guy didn't wanna eat anymore so his doctor let it but day after day this guy was better and better. His doctor decided to make some experiments with others at the institutions and it worked very well! Soviet institutions took over this therapy and opened a lot of "sanatorium" to help people with different diseases (heart, allergy, arthritis, fibromialgya...). There they are doing a fast only on water.

2/ Germany took over it, you will find there a lot of public hospital doing it, even the one of Berlin where they consecrate a whole floor for it and they is a queue to get in it! There is also some clinics like the Buchinger (click here) which is quite famous (5000 people every year) but also quite expensive.

3/ USA with the studies of this Professor (Valter Longo).


During this documentary we talk about a fast of some days to 30 days and of course the more they do the better they feel but they are medically supervised!

I am not selling this therapy, I just wanted to add an update to this thread, I haven't fasted yet but why not some day.
 
Messages
16
Location
Norway
There's a similar documentary from BBC called "Eat, Fast and Live Longer". I remember watching it a couple of years ago.
 

ghosalb

Senior Member
Messages
136
Location
upstate NY
If you don't want to fast for days, studies show that just fasting for 12 hrs. between dinner and breakfast can be beneficial....eating high nutrient foods (salads w/o unhealthy dressing) makes is easier to have long gaps between meals and that can be beneficial also.
 

Biarritz13

Senior Member
Messages
699
Location
France
There's a similar documentary from BBC called "Eat, Fast and Live Longer". I remember watching it a couple of years ago.

Thank you

If you don't want to fast for days, studies show that just fasting for 12 hrs. between dinner and breakfast can be beneficial....eating high nutrient foods (salads w/o unhealthy dressing) makes is easier to have long gaps between meals and that can be beneficial also.

Actually in this french german documentary, researchers have found that the process of regeneration begins after 72 hours, the body starts to create new white blood cells and got rid of the part of the system that is damaged.

According to Dr. Longo :
"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."
 

rebar

Senior Member
Messages
136
Courtney Craig has ME/CFS and uses short term fasting, 16 hours more or less to help control it.
she ran a couple of articles in Cort's Health rising site. Short term fasting at one time helped me, but I've been dealing with an extended crash and haven't been able to. She is knowledgable and not a quack.

http://www.drcourtneycraig.com
 
Messages
15,786
Courtney Craig has ME/CFS and uses short term fasting, 16 hours more or less to help control it.
she ran a couple of articles in Cort's Health rising site. Short term fasting at one time helped me, but I've been dealing with an extended crash and haven't been able to. She is knowledgable and not a quack.
She cured her foggy brain with fasting. Yippee :p And has no problem calling ME/CFS "fatigue" and "chronic fatigue" or her site. Not very reassuring.
 
Messages
12
Location
brooklyn
Hi everyone,
I am a 15-year CFS patient, who's tried just about everything, but I've always avoided fasts, as I have zero willpower, and every restricted diet I've ever tried hasn't helped in the slightest. But a friend of a friend told me he was able to get better after seeing a holistic doctor named Dr. Singha, who is dead now, but wrote a book called "The Secrets of Natural Health." I've avoided his fasting advice for years but I'm only getting sicker so I think it's time to try. Here is the fast, in case anyone is interested, or if anyone else has tried it, or if anyone has any comment. Thanks!
"Dr. Singha put me on a cleansing fast. My liver was toxic, and my digestive tract was not working right. In his book he has several cleansing fasts, but the one I did involved 7 days of 12-16 grilled oranges a day plus all the hot water you want and nothing else. After the 7 days, a month of only raw food, but continue the grilled oranges for breakfast. Then after a month, add in cooked meal at night. But no meat of any kind, no sugar of any kind (no honey, syrup, etc.), no alcohol, no caffeine. The idea of this was that I needed a simple diet because I wasn't digesting properly and my body was thinking that the food I was eating was toxic. For most people it wouldn't be, but my immune system was on alert and couldn't stop creating antibodies to the food that normally it would just let go. Therefore, cleanse and simplify to let the immune system calm down."
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
OTOH, fasting is bad for people with mitochondrial disorders. So, are PWME willing to gamble that they don't have a mitochondrial disorder in order to try fasting which has never been demonstrated to be beneficial for ME? There's not even a solid theoretical basis for it. For fatigue, maybe. For cancer patients, maybe. For healthy people aging, maybe. None of those conditions are ME, they only have a few individual features in common.

Pretty big gamble, imo.
 
Messages
10,157
I just did a short fast (brought on by Doxy totally messing me up -- a new thing for me with AB's) today -- 25 hours. I felt shaky, crappy, weak and all my symptoms were totally magnified. It just shows how we all individually react so differently to things. One person's salvation is another person's hell. :eek:
 
Messages
12
Location
brooklyn
OTOH, fasting is bad for people with mitochondrial disorders. So, are PWME willing to gamble that they don't have a mitochondrial disorder in order to try fasting which has never been demonstrated to be beneficial for ME? There's not even a solid theoretical basis for it. For fatigue, maybe. For cancer patients, maybe. For healthy people aging, maybe. None of those conditions are ME, they only have a few individual features in common.

Pretty big gamble, imo.


Hi SOC,
I don't know if you were responding to my post in particular, or just to the fasting thread in general, but I wanted to stress that I wouldn't be considering the fast if another CFS patient hadn't said it really helped him. He recommended it to me in 2007, so I haven't exactly been rushing to try it. But as the years have passed my health has only worsened, I've gone from periodically ill to always slightly ill to always heavily ill to now almost completely bedridden. So my philosophy at this point is: What more do I have to lose? CFS (as I'm sure you know) seems to just gradually eat your life away. Maybe there is something healing in the grilled oranges? I will post again if I do go through with it.
Thanks!
 
Messages
15,786
. . . I wanted to stress that I wouldn't be considering the fast if another CFS patient hadn't said it really helped him.
A lot of patients without ME/CFS end up being diagnosed or otherwise labeled with CFS. It doesn't mean much if a random "CFS" patient on the internet says something helped him or her. Though of course we're happy they're feeling better :)

Additionally, people have spontaneous recoveries which have nothing to do with the dozens of improbable "cures" they were taking at the time. Grilled oranges, sauerkraut, water pills, supplements, vitamins, thinking happy thoughts, exercise, blueberries, herbs, coffee enemas, poo pills, lights, saunas, cold showers, and a hundred other things are all supposedly The Cure, according to hundreds of different people.

The only things they have in common are a complete lack of supporting scientific evidence or a biologically plausible mechanism. Grilled oranges, fasting, and/or a raw vegan diet do not cure immune disorders.