Il cancro a digiuno: Come digiuno e nutritecnologia stanno rivoluzionando la prevenzione e la cura dei tumori

by Valter Longo

Affamare il cancro, nutrire il paziente. 
Il ruolo centrale della dieta mima-digiuno e del suo impatto sul metabolismo per aiutare a prevenire e curare molti tipi di tumore, anche negli stadi avanzati


Nonostante i progressi della scienza, oggi quasi una persona su due rischia di ammalarsi di tumore. Come mai siamo riusciti a ridurre il rischio di malattie mortali come quelle cardiovascolari e molte altre, ma non abbiamo avuto altrettanto successo contro il cancro? Perché i tumori sono malattie complesse, mai identici tra di loro, fatti di cellule differenti che spesso non seguono un decorso prevedibile. Hanno però una cosa in comune: sono fatti di cellule «confuse e ribelli», che si nutrono molto più di quelle sane, soprattutto quando attaccate dalle terapie standard. Valter Longo spiega i dati di decenni di ricerca di base e clinica, che indicano che un uso controllato di dieta mima-digiuno e Dieta della Longevità può aiutare a prevenire, ma anche a sconfiggere, le patologie tumorali, togliendo nutrimento solo alle cellule malate. Il cancro a digiuno apre una nuova via, in cui anche il paziente può diventare protagonista attivo nella propria cura e guarigione. 

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Science, Medicine

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Sheliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book I believe would be more enjoyed by professionals in the field. Very technical especially when it came to clinical trials. There are better books out there for the non-physicians or persons in the trade.

[Jennifer Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Longo and his team are doing incredible work in oncology. What I found interesting was that he said we should focus on ageing because cancer is in age related disease. I think in terms of prevention there’s a lot of merit in eating a plant-based diet that’s low and sugar and then periodically going on a fasting mimicking diet.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

An underwhelming book. I'm a grade 3 astrocytoma patient currently entering week 5 of radiotherapy and temozolomide (chemo), so I was thrilled to see a full chapter on brain cancer in the preview of this book! I bought it immediately.

I'm not sure who this book is for. Clinical practitioners? Too shallow for them . . . maybe the references might be useful. Researchers? Definitely not deep or extensive enough. Patients? Maybe, but there's little here that hasn't been said FAR better in other places, for example by Miriam Kalamian in Keto for Cancer.

As an author myself, I think this book feels like a doctor in an expensive city (Los Angeles) attempting to make a buck. It's as much a pitch for patients to pay for metabolic consultations as it is to persuade anyone of the clinical efficacy of fasting. (Not to mention far too much about Dr. Longo himself.) It's also highly repetitive.

Save your money.

Always make sure to consult with your care team about all your decisions. Other resources I'd recommend are, in this order:

NCCN's guidelines for patients
Food Rules by Michael Pollan (extremely concise and easy to read!)
The Moss Report's free podcast
The Cancer Journey by Dr. Chadi Nabhan
Keto for Cancer by Miriam Kalamian
research of Thomas Seyfried, PhD. Contact him for a free info packet, including this recent paper: Duraj, T., Kalamian, M., Zuccoli, G. et al. Clinical research framework proposal for ketogenic metabolic therapy in glioblastoma. BMC Med 22, 578 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03...
2015 PBS documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies from 2015 (runtime 6 hours)
Natural Strategies for Cancer Patients by Dr. Russell Blaylock (though I would proceed with caution on that last one . . . these days you're probably better using Ai prompts instead of relying on a human author. I like Claude Ai's 3.5 Sonnet Explanatory model.)

Most of all, I wish you peace on this difficult journey. Good luck.

[Roque Castro · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se queda muy lejos de entender los beneficios del ayuno por limitarlo por miedo, estudios que muestra con "dieta que imita al ayuno " de unas 800kcal, eso no es ayuno. Sim embargo, no tiene miedo de poner a la gente en quimioterapia, es asombroso el doble rasero de los científicos sobre drogas vs naturaleza. Aún así tiene puntos interesantes de los datos que da, que con correcta interpretación dan información valiosa.

Si tienes cáncer lee a Arnold Ehret y cúrate.

[CarrieLyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recommended to me as a way of treating my lymphedema but it’s really about diet as an additional cancer treatment so it was really too late for that for me. Maybe it can help others if they learn about it shortly after diagnosis rather than as I did only after treatment and when reckoning with side effects after treatment is over.

[Emil Kraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book if you have or want to prevent cancer. For example: given the content of this book (and other published research), it seems like malpractice not to engage in some type of fasting during chemo.

I'm very grateful to Longo for pioneering these counter-intuitive approaches.

[Hugo Cantuarias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buen libro de divulgación, quizás dedica demasiado tiempo a aspectos técnicos antes de entrar en consejos prácticos, pero con un tema tan relevante seguro es necesario.

[Jazmín D3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

La información clara que hace el doctor Longo aclara como manejar el cáncer y tratarlo naturalmente.

[Nick Lippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a good informative read but the author was really pushing hard to read his previous book the Longevity Diet. This might of helped me appreciate this book more.

[Paquita Diez · Rating 3 out of 5]

muy cientifico

[Anna Mosca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accurato e incoraggiante, aggiunge speranza a chi di speranza ne ha poca. Personalmente ero a conoscenza dei principi che illustra ma leggerli, finalmente, in lingua italiana, e con spiegazioni così chiare che non lasciano dubbi e che possono essere ripetute a chi dubita o a chi ha paura anche solo della parola “digiuno” mi ha dato un enorme conforto. Unisce l’antico principio del digiuno alle terapie mediche affinché queste siano più efficaci, il tutto documentato da studi. Ottimo libro per iniziare l’anno sull’onda della speranza.

[Maria Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Planteamiento complementario y parece que demostrado, al tratamiento convencional de algunos tipos de cancer. Además de resultar beneficioso para prevenir. Me parece interesante el reclamo que hace de pedir tratamientos integrados de las distintas disciplinas involucradas en la mejora y mantenimiento de nuestra salud, además de oncólogos, porqué no psicólogos, nutricionistas,...
Ayuno, dieta y ejercicio, no me parece que si se hace de manera razonada, pueda ser perjudicial y si que parece que puede aportar beneficios.

[Martinocorre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teoria molto interessante, apre sicuramente nuove prospettive per molte persone alle prese con una malattia terribile.

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

La parte donde explica los mecanismos celulares es fantástica, pero la estructura del libro se hace un poco tediosa, con párrafos que se repiten en cada capítulo.