According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California, fasting can trigger stem cell-based regeneration of an organ or system.

Valter Longo, Professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, and his colleagues say this finding is nothing short of remarkable. Although diets involving fasting have been criticized by nutritionists for being potentially dangerous, this finding suggests that starving the body can give stem cells the jump start they need to begin producing new white blood cells that are critical to fighting infection.

The new discovery could be especially beneficial for those with a compromised immune system, such as patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Fasting can also potentially assist the elderly whose immune system continues to weaken with age, which makes it more difficult for them to fight off infections.

The researchers discovered that fasting for two to four days every six months forces the body to utilize glucose and fat stores, but it also causes a breakdown of a great number of white blood cells.

“When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged,” Dr. Longo said in a statement. “What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back.”

In a pilot trial, the researchers learned that prolonged fasting (72 hours) also guarded against the toxic effects of chemotherapy.

“While chemotherapy saves lives, it causes significant collateral damage to the immune system,”  explained co-author Tanya Dorff, assistant professor of clinical medicine at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital. “The results of this study suggest that fasting may mitigate some of the harmful effects of chemotherapy.”

Have you tried fasting? Share your experience in the comments section.