Fasting May Help Cancer Patients During Chemotherapy Treatment, Doctor Says

What we eat plays a major role in our health and well-being, particularly in the development of chronic diseases.

In a recent episode of Dr. Mark Hyman’s podcast, “The Dr. Hyman Show,” the doctor and co-founder of Function Health explained how eating habits can change the course of disease.

Podcast guest Dr. Jason Fung, a Canadian physician, author and researcher, joined Hyman to discuss how fasting can help reverse diseases like cancer.

TWO POPULAR TYPES OF EXERCISE COULD REDUCE CANCER GROWTH, STUDY SAY

‘Repair mode’

“The whole idea of ​​fasting is that you’re trying to put the body into this kind of regenerative maintenance mode,” he said. “Because what we recognized is that… you can go into growth mode, or you can go into cellular maintenance repair mode.”

What people eat plays a major role in health and well-being, including the development of chronic diseases. (iStock)

It depends on the availability of nutrients, the doctor explained. When nutrients are available, cells want to grow. Without nutrients, the body enters a state of “maintenance repair.”

Fung compared fasting to a car engine. Revving the engine and going fast will cause it to burn out more quickly – but sometimes it is necessary to make a “pit stop” and take the car to the workshop for servicing.

GLP-1 WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS LINKED TO IMPROVED CANCER SURVIVAL IN SOME PATIENTS

“It’s also in the interest of the human body,” he said. “You can aim for growth, or you can aim for longevity or cellular maintenance, but you have to have a little bit of both. It’s a balance there. It’s not just growth.”

Fasting and cancer treatment

Eating pushes cells into growth mode, according to Fung – which could be dangerous in fighting diseases like cancer, where cells grow too much.

“You’re basically fueling that growth,” he said. “And it’s going to be very, very bad for you.”

Research has shown that fasting just before, during, and after chemotherapy may result in fewer side effects. (iStock)

Fasting can allow cells to enter “care mode,” allowing the body to better cope with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, according to the doctor.

Research has shown that fasting just before, during and after chemotherapy can result in fewer side effects as cells slow down and “stop trying to grow,” Fung said.

“You can take care of your body while putting cancer at a disadvantage.”

Chemotherapy aims to kill the fastest growing cells, which tend to attack hair follicles and the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, causing hair loss and nausea.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“So if you can put these cells into sort of a quiet repair mode, (they) won’t suffer as much damage from chemotherapy,” he said. “And instead, the cancer cells – which can’t stop growing, they’re always trying to grow – they can’t do that. So they’re going to take all the damage from chemotherapy while your body is relatively protected.”

Nutrition, metabolism and cancer

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Dr. Frank Dumont, internal medicine physician and executive medical director of Virta Health in Colorado, commented on the concept of starving cancer.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER

As a physician who specializes in using nutrition to improve metabolism, Dumont emphasized that metabolic health goals can be achieved without resorting to fasting.

There is a “huge overlap” between the metabolic benefits of fasting, or time-restricted eating, and adjusting macronutrients in the diet, such as decreasing carbohydrate intake when appropriate, according to the doctor.

Dietary restrictions and fasting have the same health benefits, says doctor. (iStock)

“You see the same types of benefits,” he said. “When you do that, glucose levels start to go down, insulin levels go down, inflammation goes down.”

“You can either adjust what you eat or do things like restrict how much or when you eat. How you do it depends on what makes the most sense (for) your situation and what you can tolerate.”

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

Dumont explained that when insulin increases, causing insulin resistance, it leads to metabolic dysfunction and can stimulate the growth of certain cancer cells.

Other types of cancer also don’t use energy, using glucose as their “sole form of fuel,” as opposed to fats, fatty acids and ketones, according to Dumont.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES

“Ultimately, our bodies are much more flexible,” he said. “If you can start to match nutrition to metabolism, that often means reducing glucose intake and, in some ways, starving the cancer.”

At the same time, he says, it’s important to find a way to fuel the body with other types of foods.

“You can take care of your body while putting cancer at a disadvantage.”