Too Much of a Good Thing: Intermittent Fasting May Help Heal Cells, But Increases Cancer Risk By Euronews

Intermittent fasting has become one of the most popular dietswith studies linking it to several health benefitsHowever, researchers continue to study its impact on metabolism.

In a study on mice, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US analyzed how fasting can help regenerate intestinal stem cells. These cells are the source new intestinal cells and its regeneration can help the intestines.

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They watched three groups of mice: The first fasted for 24 hours, the second fasted for 24 hours and then ate ad libitum for the next 24 hours, and the third control group ate freely throughout the experiment.

Researchers have identified a specific pathway responsible for improved regeneration that is activated when mice eat again after a period of fasting, according to their findings published in the journal ”Nature‘“We believe that fasting and refeeding are two different states,” the statement says Shinya Imada, a postdoctoral fellow at MIT and one of the lead authors of the study.

“In a state of starvation, the ability of cells to use lipids and fatty acids as source of energy This allows them to survive when there is a lack of nutrients. And it is the state of refeeding after starvation that actually promotes regeneration. When nutrients are available, these stem and progenitor cells activate programs that allow them to build up cell mass and repopulate the intestinal lining,” he adds.

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Cancer risk

There is a caveat, however: if cancer mutations

During this regenerative phase, mice are at increased risk of developing early-stage intestinal tumors.

“High stem cell activity is good for regeneration, but too much activity can lead to less favorable consequences” says Omer Yilmaz, an associate professor of biology at MIT and lead author of the new study.

Increased stem cell activity is beneficial for regeneration, but too much activity can have less beneficial effects over time.

Omer Yilmaz, associate professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Intestinal stem cells help renew the intestinal lining, which is completely replaced every five to 10 days. This rapid division makes them more prone to precancerous changes develop than other types of intestinal cells.

The researchers also found that mutations that arose during the refeeding phase were more likely to result in education from polyps compared to those produced in non-fasted mice.

The researchers stressed that the study was conducted andn mice with specific cancer mutations

and that a more complex human context may lead to different results.

“We still have a lot to learn, but it is interesting that being in a state of fasting or starvation at the time of exposure to a mutagen can have a profound effect on probability of developing cancer in these well-defined mouse models,” Yilmaz said.