What is intermittent fasting? And is it a good idea?

Fasting be back soon

Intermittent fasting, or intermittent energy restriction, is an umbrella term for a diet which involves cycling between a period of significantly reduced caloric intake (fasting) and a period of regular eating.

“Diet” or “dietary restriction” is what most of us think of as “going on a diet”, that is, reducing caloric intake.

Eating fewer calories.

Losing weight.

Those of us with estrogen-positive breast cancer who reduce our risk of recurrence by blocking the body’s estrogen production (aromatase inhibitors) … often find that weight gain is a direct side effect.

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Yes, Virginia, you should eat your broccoli

Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables (such as arugula, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard greens,  cauliflower, and kale) “contain a molecule that inactivates a gene known to play a role in a variety of common human cancers” although you can’t eat your way to cancer suppression.

Scientists at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center discovered that an enzyme which plays a role in many cancers “can be inhibited with a natural compound found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables.” Their research is preliminary, focused on prostate cancer prone mice and human cells.

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Replumbing the lymphatic system with a pill: still a dream

microscope - pixabay

Currently no U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved therapy can reestablish lymphatic circulation after a patient develops lymphedema. Up to 10 million people in the United States and more than 100 million around the world have lymphedema.

A phase II clinical trial at Stanford University School of Medicine tested whether the drug ubenimex, a leukemia treatment used in Japan, can spur the growth of new lymphatic vessels for patients with secondary leg lymphedema. It was the “first pharmaceutical company-sponsored trial for a medical treatment of lymphedema.”

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