[cancercured] Fasting to reduce chemo toxicity

Interesting . . .

[hsibaltimore.com]

...and another thing

Cancer patients may be able to reduce the toxic side effects of
chemotherapy without spending a penny on absurdly expensive drugs like
Procrit.
Researchers at the University of Southern California believe that a two
day fast before chemotherapy may set in motion a protective reaction in
healthy cells, guarding them from chemo side effects.
Valter D. Longo, a USC associate professor of biological sciences,
explained to HealthDay News that anti-aging research has revealed that
certain stressors activate a protective "shield mode" in healthy cells.
One of those stressors is starvation. Longo and his colleagues believe
that healthy cells may be protected when chemo is given while those
cells are in shield mode.

So far, the USC team has conducted three tiers of study: first on yeast,
then on human cells in a lab, and most recently on mice.

In the mouse study, animals were injected with brain cancer cells. Some
of the mice ate a normal diet, while others were given no food for 48
hours prior to receiving a high dose of the chemo drug etoposide. Within
10 days, all of the normal-diet mice displayed toxic side effects and
nearly half of them died. Only one of the mice in the 48-hour fasting
group died, and none of the mice in this group displayed toxic side
effects.

After treatment, normal-diet mice lost an average of 20 percent of their
body weight, while most of the mice in the 48-hour fasting group
regained their lost weight within four days.

Longo and his colleagues are now planning a human trial. I'll keep an
eye out for their further research and let you know as soon as it's
published.

To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
****************************************************
Source:
"Fasting Before Chemo Protects Healthy Cells" Alan Mozes, HealthDay,
4/2/08, healthcentral.com

------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cancercured/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cancercured/join

(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:cancercured-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:cancercured-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
cancercured-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/