Fasting, many diet gurus say, can help you lose weight and improve your overall health. But what do scientists say? In general, they concur, although they prefer highly qualified statements to broad assertions. For example, many scientists agree that fasting is associated with improved outcomes in cancer, but even these scientists remain skeptical.
They demand mechanistic details. Such details emerged from a new study by researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). They found that in fasting mice, natural killer (NK) cells had their metabolisms “rewired.
” Ultimately, the NK cells improved their ability to survive the rigors of the tumor microenvironment. Also, they fought cancer more effectively. The MSK researcher presented their finding in , in an article titled, “ .
” The study’s lead author is postdoctoral fellow Rebecca Delconte, PhD, and the senior author is Joseph Sun, PhD, an investigator in the MSK’s Immunology Program. “During fasting, NK cells underwent redistribution from peripheral tissues to the bone marrow (BM),” the article’s authors wrote. “NK cells in the spleen of fasted mice were metabolically rewired by elevated concentrations of fatty acids and glucocorticoids, augmenting fatty acid metabolism.
” The scientists observed that fasting-induced fatty acid oxidation was accompanied by increased expression of the enzyme CPT1A. To reinforce this association, the scientists deleted and found that doing so impaired NK cell surv.