Fasting mimicking diet safe and effective when used with chemotherapy
A type of intermittent fasting was found to be safe and effective when used in conjunction with chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
In this randomized trial, 131 patients with HER2-negative stage II/III breast cancer, were randomly assigned to adhere to a fasting mimicking diet (FMD), which included low-calorie, low-protein, plant-based food, or their regular diet for 3 days before and during neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
There was no difference in toxicity between the groups. Although there was no significant difference, intention to treat analysis found patients in the FMD group had an overall pathologic complete response rate of 11.7% compared to 12.7% in the control group. In patients on the FMD, a radiologically complete or partial response occurred more often.
In the FMD group, 11.3% of patients had stable or progressive disease compared to 26.9% in the control group.
Reference
de Groot S, Lugtenberg RT, Cohen D, et al. Fasting mimicking diet as an adjunct to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer in the multicentre randomized phase 2 DIRECT trial. Nat Commun. 2020;11(1):3083. Published 2020 Jun 23. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16138-3