Good things happen in your body when you do not eat. Circadian code research shows that we spend 12 hours digesting and processing what we eat for a day. After 12 hours, we start burning fat for energy and releasing ketone bodies that have a number of health benefits. One of those benefits is to retard the growth of cancer.

In 1931, German scientist Otto Warburg won the Nobel Prize for showing that the growth of cancer required the glycation of carbohydrates, and that cancer growth is suppressed or eliminated on a ketogenic diet. From this the concept of “starving” cancer developed.

Valter Longo, PhD, director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California (USC), used this science to lead a number of studies on how fasting may prevent and treat cancer. Dr. Longo is well known for a “fasting mimicking diet” based on the intake of about 500 calories. For the cancer trials, the fasting days were five at a time every two weeks. Working with the cancer center at USC and one in Rome, he has had successes with a wide variety of cancers. In his book Fasting Cancer, Longo also presents the research of other fasting cancer trials.

Since weight loss is common in patients in cancer, the idea of fasting during treatment is counterintuitive, and even resisted by many cancer-treating physicians. Some oncologists are hostile to the idea of fasting as part of cancer treatment. “Eat whatever you want” is the more common recommendation. Because sugar and carbohydrates may “feed” the cancer, this approach would be detrimental to the patient’s health.

In Fasting Cancer, Longo begins by giving a modern view of what cancer is and its causes, especially unhealthy dietary habits. He promotes a “longevity diet” consisting mostly of healthy vegetables, eating meat sparingly and limiting protein. After setting the stage for this approach in the early chapters, Longo reports on successes in subsequent cancers addressing breast cancer, gynecological cancers, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, blood cancers, brain cancer, kidney cancer and even skin cancer. Throughout the book, Longo emphasizes that the fasting method is done along with standard cancer therapy and should not stand alone as treatment.

While there is no guarantee of cancer remission from fasting, and the successes are case by case, using fasting to treat cancer is exciting and should be more widely used. This book by a respected scientist working in an academic setting has the potential to spread this knowledge to other major cancer centers. Dr. Longo did not originate this treatment method, but may be credited with helping change the paradigm of cancer treatment.

Dr. Scherger is the founder of Restore Health Disease Reversal in Indian Wells, a clinic dedicated to weight loss and reversing chronic medical conditions. To schedule a consultation, call (760) 898.9663 or visit www.restorehealth.me.