MIAMI – Studies have shown that intermittent fasting is not only beneficial for weight control, the practice may also reduce the risk of breast cancer and improve survival or treatment efficacy.
Dr. Tracy Crane, Co-lead of the cancer control program at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center said postmenopausal breast cancer is often driven by obesity.
“Anytime we have adipose tissue and excess adipose tissue or adipose tissue and fat we want to reduce that risk and so insulin and glucose are two of the primary drivers for breast cancer risk and so intermittent fasting may help with that,” she said.
Crane said intermittent fasting doesn’t mean starving yourself; it’s as simple as giving your body a ‘food break’ for about 14 hours.
“For example between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. the following day,” she said.
In the fight against breast cancer the Cleveland Clinic Ohio is initiating a first of its kind study into a preventative breast cancer vaccine.
The phase one trial is designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose of the vaccine in patients with early-stage, triple negative breast cancer which is the most aggressive and lethal form of the disease.
This form of breast cancer is twice as likely to occur in African American women.
And new research out of Sweden suggests that a number of serious viral infections in adolescence may increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis later in life.
A second study found that infectious mononucleosis during the ages of 11-to-15 was often associated with an MS diagnosis over the age of 30.
MS is a disease of the central nervous system that affects the brain and spinal cord.
According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, there are an estimated one million American adults currently living with the disease which is more than twice the number in 1975.