Speaker
Description
A growing body of experimental and clinical evidence indicates that intermittent fasting can exert beneficial effects in cancer prevention and therapy. Preclinical studies consistently show that fasting cycles can slow tumor growth, enhance tumor cell sensitivity to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and protect normal tissues. Early-phase clinical trials further suggest that intermittent fasting is feasible, safe, and may reduce treatment-related toxicity while improving therapeutic response. These benefits should not be conflated with chronic caloric restriction, which does not confer therapeutic advantage. Thus, the potential value of intermittent fasting in oncology lies in its structured, time-limited metabolic modulation rather than generalized nutritional deprivation \cite{clifton_intermittent_2021}.
Current evidence remains limited by small sample sizes, heterogeneous protocols, and an incomplete mechanistic understanding of metabolic–tumor interactions, limitations that may be addressed through mathematical modeling.
Metabolic scaling laws provide a mechanistic link between tumor growth dynamics and energetic balance \cite{perez-garcia_universal_2020}. In this talk, I describe a minimal conceptual model revealing an Allee effect driven by tumor energetic availability. I then present more detailed nutritional models incorporating glucose, insulin, and glucagon dynamics. Theoretical results are complemented by in silico digital twin simulations calibrated with tumor growth and patient metabolic data, leading to optimized fasting schemes for different primary cancers. Our findings illustrate the potential of mathematics to guide nutritional strategies in oncology.
Bibliography
@article{clifton_intermittent_2021,
title = {Intermittent fasting in the prevention and treatment of cancer},
volume = {71},
issn = {0007-9235, 1542-4863},
url = {https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.21694},
doi = {10.3322/caac.21694},
abstract = {Abstract
Chronic caloric restriction (CR) has powerful anticarcinogenic actions in both preclinical and clinical studies but may be difficult to sustain. As an alternative to CR, there has been growing interest in intermittent fasting (IF) in both the scientific and lay community as a result of promising study results, mainly in experimental animal models. According to a survey by the International Food Information Council Foundation, IF has become the most popular diet in the last year, and patients with cancer are seeking advice from oncologists about its beneficial effects for cancer prevention and treatment. However, as discussed in this review, results from IF studies in rodents are controversial and suggest potential detrimental effects in certain oncologic conditions. The effects of IF on human cancer incidence and prognosis remain unknown because of a lack of high‐quality randomized clinical trials. Preliminary studies suggest that prolonged fasting in some patients who have cancer is safe and potentially capable of decreasing chemotherapy‐related toxicity and tumor growth. However, because additional trials are needed to elucidate the risks and benefits of fasting for patients with cancer, the authors would not currently recommend patients undergoing active cancer treatment partake in IF outside the context of a clinical trial. IF may be considered in adults seeking cancer‐prevention benefits through means of weight management, but whether IF itself affects cancer‐related metabolic and molecular pathways remains unanswered.},
language = {en},
number = {6},
urldate = {2026-03-23},
journal = {CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians},
author = {Clifton, Katherine K. and Ma, Cynthia X. and Fontana, Luigi and Peterson, Lindsay L.},
month = nov,
year = {2021},
pages = {527--546},}
@article{perez-garcia_universal_2020,
title = {Universal scaling laws rule explosive growth in human cancers},
volume = {16},
issn = {1745-2473, 1745-2481},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-020-0978-6},
doi = {10.1038/s41567-020-0978-6},
language = {en},
number = {12},
urldate = {2026-03-23},
journal = {Nature Physics},
author = {Pérez-García, Víctor M. and Calvo, Gabriel F. and Bosque, Jesús J. and León-Triana, Odelaisy and Jiménez, Juan and Pérez-Beteta, Julián and Belmonte-Beitia, Juan and Valiente, Manuel and Zhu, Lucía and García-Gómez, Pedro and Sánchez-Gómez, Pilar and Hernández-San Miguel, Esther and Hortigüela, Rafael and Azimzade, Youness and Molina-García, David and Martínez, Álvaro and Acosta Rojas, Ángel and Ortiz De Mendivil, Ana and Vallette, Francois and Schucht, Philippe and Murek, Michael and Pérez-Cano, María and Albillo, David and Honguero Martínez, Antonio F. and Jiménez Londoño, Germán A. and Arana, Estanislao and García Vicente, Ana M.},
month = dec,
year = {2020},
pages = {1232--1237},}
