Could skipping a few meals each week help you fight cancer? It might sound far-fetched, but new research suggests that one type of intermittent fasting could actually boost your body’s natural ability to defeat cancer.
A team of scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has uncovered an intriguing link between fasting and the body’s immune system. Their study, published in the journal Immunity, focuses on a particular type of immune cell called natural killer (NK) cells. These cells are like the special forces of your immune system, capable of taking out cancer cells and virus-infected cells without needing prior exposure.
So, what’s the big deal about these NK cells? Well, they’re pretty important when it comes to battling cancerous tumors. Generally speaking, the more NK cells you have in a tumor, the better your chances of beating the disease. However, there’s a catch: the environment inside and around tumors is incredibly harsh. It’s like a battlefield where resources are scarce, and many immune cells struggle to survive.
This is where fasting enters the picture. The researchers found that periods of fasting actually “reprogrammed” these NK cells, making them better equipped to survive in the dangerous tumor environment and more effective at fighting cancer.
“Tumors are very hungry,” says immunologist Joseph Sun, PhD, the study’s senior author, in a media release. “They take up essential nutrients, creating a hostile environment often rich in lipids that are detrimental to most immune cells. What we show here is that fasting reprograms these natural killer cells to better survive in this suppressive environment.”
