Intermittent fasting may reduce cancer risk

March 16, 2005 | Source: KurzweilAI

Healthy mice given only 5 percent fewer calories than mice allowed to eat freely experienced a significant reduction in cell proliferation in several tissues, an indicator for cancer risk, UC Berkeley researchers found.

The key was that the mice eating 5 percent fewer calories were fed intermittently, or three days a week.

Cutting just a few calories overall but feeding intermittently may be a more feasible eating pattern for some people to maintain than substantial reduction in calories, the researchers suggest.

UC Berkeley news release