 In 2015, a remarkable case report was published, in which one with stage-free follicular lymphoma underwent a medically supervised 21-day water-only fast, after which her enlarged lymph nodes were substantially reduced in size. The patient then remained on a whole food plant-based diet, and at six in nine months' follow-up visits, she remained asymptomatic. In 2018, her three-year follow-up was published. Remarkably, she appeared to remain cancer-free confirmed by CT and PET scans. Her cancer appeared to have been knocked down and out. The initial regression has persisted for three years, with no additional intervention other than the dietary change. Could it have just been a coincidence? Sure, but the initial regression directly coincided with the timing of her water-only fast, suggesting a causal relationship, and there are biological mechanisms by which fasting may potentiate tumor regression, such as decreasing levels of IGF-1. The term spontaneous regression of cancer is a misnomer. Obviously, there was something that caused the regression, whether or not we know what it is. Presumably, the immune system plays a role. The fact that you can get a market increase in cancer rates when your immunosuppress suggests that cancers are popping up all the time, but your immune system is normally able to keep them at bay. There was an example, for instance, of a regression after a transfusion of blood from a patient who had previously sustained spontaneous regression, or cases of patients who had been free of metastases for 15 or 20 years, only to develop rapidly fatal metastases after some type of stress or shock that apparently sharply reduced their resistance. For most cancers, spontaneous regression is exceedingly rare, but lymphoma is an exception. Of 140 cases of nodular lymphoma, which is what they used to call follicular lymphoma, there were 18 cases of at least partial, and 6 cases of complete regression. So like 1 in 25 cases just go away on their own. So when you have follicular lymphoma cases, in which tumors shrink after any kind of treatment, in this case after some herbal supplement, you always have to ask, is this cause and effect, or just coincidence? Elevated natural killing activity, may be one of the possible mechanisms responsible for spontaneous regression of malignant lymphoma. Natural killer cells may be part of our first line of defense against cancer by destroying tumor cells. And if you compare the natural killer cell activity of those with malignant lymphoma that spontaneously regressed versus those whose cancer didn't or control group, the spontaneous regression group do seem to be on the high end. How do we increase natural killer cell activity? Exercise can do it unless apparently you're eating a high fat diet. Those randomized to undergo an exercise training program on a high fat diet actually suffered a decline in natural killer cell activity, suggesting training on a high fat diet is detrimental to the immune system. Eating lots of contaminated fatty fish may also adversely affect NK cell levels, but put people on a low-fat diet, and you can dramatically increase natural killer cell activity within a matter of months by about 50%, suggesting that dietary fat might increase the formation of cancer by depressing the tumor surveillance capacity of the immune system. The bottom line in terms of fasting is that at present long-term fasting and cancer treatment is supported only by some case reports. So more research desperately needed. Sadly, there is no current clinical research evaluating the effects of water-only fasting in a whole food plant-based diet on follicular lymphoma in humans. Long-term fasting is certainly not without a risk. In this case, a guy opted to try a 60-day fast instead of chemotherapy for non-Nahodgans lymphoma, ending up hospitalized in a coma and respiratory failure because of Wernicke and cephalopathy, a life-threatening neurological emergency caused by thiamine deficiency. But starting on a healthier diet seems like a win-win, no-brainer. Just putting people on a plant-based whole food sugar-oil-solve-free diet with or without fasting is sometimes sufficient to induce an intense healing response.