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Fasting and fasting-mimicking diets for chemotherapy augmentation

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Abstract

The increasingly older population in most developed countries will likely experience aging-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart and lung diseases, osteoporosis, arthritis, dementia, and/or cancer. Genetic and environmental factors, but also lifestyle choices including physical activity and dietary habits, play essential roles in disease onset and progression. Sixty-five percent of Americans diagnosed with cancer now survive more than 5 years, making the need for informed lifestyle choices particularly important to successfully complete their treatment, increase the recovery from the cytotoxic therapy options, and improve cancer-free survival. This review will discuss the findings on the use of prolonged fasting, as well as fasting-mimicking diets to augment cancer treatment. Preclinical studies in rodents strongly support the implementation of these dietary interventions and a small number of clinical trials begin to provide encouraging results for cancer patients and cancer survivors.

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  1. Longevity Institute, School of Gerontology, and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Sebastian Brandhorst

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USC has a licensed intellectual property related to a commercial fasting-mimicking diet to L-Nutra that is discussed in this review. As part of this license agreement, the University has the potential to receive royalty payments from L-Nutra.

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Brandhorst, S. Fasting and fasting-mimicking diets for chemotherapy augmentation. GeroScience 43, 1201–1216 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-020-00317-7

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