"Spontaneous Regression of Cancer with Fasting"
In 2015, a remarkable case report was published in which a woman
with Stage 3 follicular lymphoma underwent a medically supervised,
21-day water-only fast, after which her enlarged lymph nodes
were substantially reduced in size.
The patient then remained on a whole food, plant-based diet,
and at 6- and 9-month follow-up visits she remained asymptomatic.
In 2018, her 3-year follow-up was published.
Remarkably, she appeared to remain cancer-free,
confirmed by CT and PET scans.
Her cancer appeared to have been knocked down and out.
The initial regression has persisted for the three years
with no additional intervention other than the dietary change.
Could it have just been a coincidence?
Sure, but the initial regression directly coincided
with the timing of her water-only fast, suggesting a causal relationship,
and there are biological mechanisms by which fasting may potentiate
tumor regression, such as decreasing levels of IGF-1.
The term "spontaneous regression" of cancer is a misnomer.
I mean, obviously there was something that caused the regression,
whether or not we know what it is.
Presumably the immune system plays a role.
The fact that you can get a marked increase in cancer rates
when you're immunosuppressed suggests that cancers are popping up
all the time, but your immune system is normally able to keep them at bay.
There was an example, for instance, of a regression after a transfusion
of blood from a patient who had previously sustained
a spontaneous regression. Or cases of patients
who had been free of metastases for 15 or 20 years, only to develop
rapidly fatal metastases after some type of stress or shock
that apparently sharply reduced their resistance.
For most cancers, spontaneous regression is exceedingly rare,
but lymphoma is an exception.
Of 140 cases of nodular lymphoma --
which is what they used to call follicular lymphoma --
there were 18 cases of at least partial and 6 cases of complete regression.
So like 1 in 25 cases just go away on their own.
So when you have follicular lymphoma cases
in which tumors shrink after any kind of treatment --
in this case after some herbal supplement --
you always have to ask: is this cause-and-effect
or just coincidence?
Elevated natural killing activity may be one of the possible mechanisms
responsible for spontaneous regression of malignant lymphoma.
Natural killer cells may be part of our first line of defense
against cancer by destroying tumor cells.
And if you compare the natural killer cell activity
of those with malignant lymphoma that spontaneously regressed
versus those whose cancer didn't, or a control group,
the spontaneous regression group do seem to be on the high end.
How do we increase natural killer cell activity?
Exercise can do it,
unless, apparently, you're eating a high-fat diet.
Those randomized to undergo an exercise training program
on a high-fat diet actually suffered a decline
in natural killer cell activity,
suggesting training on a high-fat diet is detrimental to the immune system.
Eating lots of contaminated fatty fish
may also adversely affect NK cell levels.
But put people on a low-fat diet, and you can dramatically increase
natural killer cell activity within a matter of months by about 50%,
suggesting that dietary fat might increase the formation of cancer
by depressing the tumor surveillance capacity of the immune system.
The bottom line in terms of fasting is that, at present, long-term fasting
in cancer treatment is supported only by some case reports,
so more research is desperately needed.
Sadly, there is no current clinical research
evaluating the effects of water-only fasting and a whole food,
plant-based diet on follicular lymphoma in humans.
Long-term fasting is certainly not without risk.
In this case, a guy opted to try a 60-day fast
instead of chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma,
ending up hospitalized in a coma and respiratory failure
because of Wernicke encephalopathy,
a life-threatening neurological emergency
caused by thiamine deficiency.
But starting on a healthier diet seems like a win-win no-brainer.
Just putting people on a plant-based, whole food, you know,
sugar-oil-salt-free diet, with or without fasting,
is sometimes sufficient to induce an intense healing response.