Fasting May Improve Immune System Health During Aging Process
by Chris Weller for Medical Daily:Periodic fasting may protect immune system health among healthy middle-aged people and the elderly, along with chemotherapy patients and other people who suffer immune-related conditions, a new study finds.As our bodies age or are exposed to various forms of stress, such as disease and autoimmune disorders, the white blood cells that once conquered harmful invaders now, unfortunately, relent. In their weakened state, they allow the body’s immune health to suffer, putting people at risk for earlier death. In fact, among cancer-related deaths, it’s estimated that roughly one-fifth are hastened, or even caused, by toxicities related to chemotherapy, and not the actual cancer itself.The new study, conducted by researchers from the University of Southern California, revealed that temporary nutrient restriction could protect the body’s immune cells. At first, they found, the initial starvation actually causes the body’s white blood cell count to drop. But once feeding resumes, the count bounces back to even greater numbers than before."We discovered that this effect, which may have evolved to reduce energy expenditure during periods of starvation, is able to switch stem cells to a mode able to not only regenerate immune cells and reverse the immunosuppression caused by chemotherapy, but also rejuvenate the immune system of old mice,” said senior researcher Dr. Valter Longo in a statement. Longo and his colleagues also found that 72-hour fasting periods resulted in less white blood cell loss among chemotherapy patients.Basically, when people undergo a fast — in the study’s case, for two to four days every six months — their bodies rely on current energy stores to keep the body healthy. In drawing from these stores, the body will use up old immune cells that, as Longo tells the Daily Mail, “are not needed, especially those that may be damaged.”