Practitioner Resources

Fasting, Autophagy and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Increasing evidence suggests that dysregulation of autophagy results in the accumulation of abnormal proteins and/or damaged organelles, which is commonly observed in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases  (Banerjee, Beal, and Thomas 2010). Impaired protein homeostasis and...
Starvation, detoxification, and multi-drug resistance in cancer therapy.
The selection of chemotherapy drugs is based on the cytotoxicity to specific tumour cell types and the relatively low toxicity to normal cells and tissues. However, the toxicity to normal cells poses a major clinical challenge, particularly when malignant cells...
Dietary Interventions, Cardiovascular Ageing, and Disease Animal Models and Human Studies
Recent studies indicate that dietary interventions have the potential to prevent and even treat cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death. Many of these studies have focused on various animal models that are able to recreate one or...
Protein restriction cycles reduce IGF-1 and phosphorylated Tau, and improve behavioural performance in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model
In laboratory animals, calorie restriction (CR) protects against ageing, oxidative stress, and neurodegenerative pathologies. Reduced levels of growth hormone and IGF-1, which mediate some of the protective effects of CR, can also extend longevity and/or protect against age-related diseases in...
Short-term calorie and protein restriction provide partial protection from chemotoxicity but do not delay glioma progression
short-term starvation (STS) protects normal cells while simultaneously sensitising malignant cells to high-dose chemotherapeutic drugs in mice and possibly patients. The fasting-dependent protection of normal cells and sensitisation of malignant cells depends, in part, on reduced levels of insulin-like growth...
Fasting enhances the response of glioma to chemo and radiotherapy
Glioma, including anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiform (GBM) are among the most commonly diagnosed malignant adult brain tumours. GBM is a highly invasive and angiogenic tumour, resulting in a 12 to 15 months median survival. The treatment of GBM is...
Growth factors, nutrient signalling, and cardiovascular ageing
Growth factors regulated by specific macro-nutrients have been shown to promote ageing and accelerate mortality in the majority of the organisms studied. In particular, the enzymes activated by growth hormone, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor-1 in mammals and their orthologs...
Fasting Cycles Retard Growth of Tumours and Sensitise a Range of Cancer Cell Types to Chemotherapy.
Short-term starvation (or fasting) protects normal cells, mice, and potentially humans from the harmful side effects of a variety of chemotherapy drugs. Here we show that treatment with starvation conditions sensitised yeast cells (S. cerevisiae) expressing the oncogene-like RAS2val19 to...
Extending Healthy Life Span–From Yeast to Humans.
When the food intake of organisms such as yeast and rodents is reduced (dietary restriction), they live longer than organisms fed a normal diet. A similar effect is seen when the activity of nutrient-sensing pathways is reduced by mutations or...
Reduced Levels of IGF-I Mediate Differential Protection of Normal and Cancer Cells in Response to Fasting and Improve Chemotherapeutic Index
Inhibitors of the insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) receptor have been widely studied for their ability to enhance the killing of a variety of malignant cells, but whether IGF-I signaling differentially protects the host and cancer cells against chemotherapy is unknown....
Starvation, Stress Resistance, and Cancer
Cancer cells are characterized by dysregulation in signal transduction and metabolic pathways leading to increased glucose uptake, altered mitochon-drial function, and the evasion of antigrowth signals. Fasting and fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs) provide a particularly promising intervention to pro-mote differential effects...
Humanin Prevents Age-Related Cognitive Decline in Mice and is Associated with Improved Cognitive Age in Humans
Advanced age is associated with a decline in cognitive function, likely caused by a combination of modifiable and non-modifiable factors such as genetics and lifestyle choices. Mounting evidence suggests that humanin and other mitochondrial derived peptides play a role in...
Fasting and cancer: molecular mechanisms and clinical application
The vulnerability of cancer cells to nutrient deprivation and their dependency on specific metabolites are emerging hallmarks of cancer. Fasting or fasting- mimicking diets (FMDs) lead to wide alterations in growth factors and in metabolite levels, generating environments that can...
Aging – Fasting and Cancer Treatment in Humans: A Case series report
Abstract: Short‐term fasting (48 hours) was shown to be effective  in protecting normal cells and mice but not cancer cells against  high  dose  chemotherapy,  termed  Differential  Stress  Resistance  (DSR),  but  the  feasibility  and  effect  of  fasting  in cancer  patients  undergoing ...
Life Span Extension by Calorie Restriction Depends on Rim15 and Transcription Factors Downstream of Ras/PKA, Tor, and Sch9
Calorie restriction (CR), the only non-genetic intervention known to slow aging and extend life span in organisms ranging from yeast to mice, has been linked to the down-regulation of Tor, Akt, and Ras signaling. In this study, we demonstrate that...