Trial reportBMC cancer2015
The effects of short-term fasting on tolerance to (neo) adjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-negative breast cancer patients: a randomized pilot study.
Trial report in BMC cancer, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 6 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 139 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effects of Short-term Fasting on Tolerance to Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients
Safety, Feasibility and Metabolic Effects of the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) in Cancer Patients
Impact of Dietary Intervention on Tumor Immunity: the DigesT Trial.
Exploiting Metformin Plus/Minus Cyclic Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) to Improve the Efficacy of First Line Chemo-immunotherapy in Advanced LKB1-inactive Lung Adenocarcinoma
Can Fasting Decrease the Side Effects of Chemotherapy?
Targeting Triple Negative BREAst Cancer Metabolism With a Combination of Chemotherapy and a Diet Mimicking FASTing Plus/Minus Metformin in the Preoperative Setting: the BREAKFAST Trial
Who cites it
139 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 250 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of fasting on thyroid hormone profiles: a systematic review and meta-analysis of TSH, FT3, FT4, and total T3 responses.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of intermittent fasting on patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy and/or targeted therapies: a systematic review of the literature.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Impact of Diet Modifications on Body Weight, Body Composition, Treatment Outcomes, and Quality of Life During Primary Treatment for Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review.Nutrition reviews · 2025Pooled it
- European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) Position Statement on Medical Nutrition Therapy for the Management of Individuals with Overweight or Obesity and Cancer.Obesity facts · 2025Guideline
- Therapeutic Fasting in Reducing Chemotherapy Side Effects in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Fasting during cancer treatment: a systematic review.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2023Pooled it
- Intermittent Fasting in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review and Critical Update of Available Studies.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Food Intake During Cancer Therapy: A Systematic Review.American journal of clinical oncology · 2020Pooled it
- Short-term fasting before living kidney donation has an immune-modulatory effect.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Trial
- Role of dietary interventions on microvascular health in South-Asian Surinamese people with type 2 diabetes in the Netherlands: A randomized controlled trial.Nutrition & diabetes · 2024Trial
- Randomised controlled trial of intermittent vs continuous energy restriction during chemotherapy for early breast cancer.British journal of cancer · 2022Trial
- Fasting-Mimicking Diet Is Safe and Reshapes Metabolism and Antitumor Immunity in Patients with Cancer.Cancer discovery · 2022Trial
- Quality of life and illness perceptions in patients with breast cancer using a fasting mimicking diet as an adjunct to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the phase 2 DIRECT (BOOG 2013-14) trial.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Effect of Short-Term Fasting on Systemic Cytochrome P450-Mediated Drug Metabolism in Healthy Subjects: A Randomized, Controlled, Crossover Study Using a Cocktail Approach.Clinical pharmacokinetics · 2017Trial
- Dietary Modulation of CMA: Implications for Cancer Prevention and Therapy.Physiology (Bethesda, Md.) · 2027Review
- A fasting-mimicking environment enhances procaspase-activating compound 1 in 2D and 3D glioma cell models.Cell cycle (Georgetown, Tex.) · 2026Article
- FASTINA - protocol for a randomised feasibility trial of time-restricted eating to improve response to multiple myeloma therapy.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2026Article
- Nutrition as Modulator of Oxidative Stress in Cancer Prevention and Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
79 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPreclinical evidence shows that short-term fasting (STF) protects healthy cells against side effects of chemotherapy and makes cancer cells more vulnerable to it. This pilot study examines the feasibility of STF and its effects on tolerance of chemotherapy in a homogeneous patient group with early breast cancer (BC).
methodsEligible patients had HER2-negative, stage II/III BC. Women receiving (neo)-adjuvant TAC (docetaxel/doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide) were randomized to fast 24 h before and after commencing chemotherapy, or to eat according to the guidelines for healthy nutrition. Toxicity in the two groups was compared. Chemotherapy-induced DNA damage in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was quantified by the level of γ-H2AX analyzed by flow cytometry.
resultsThirteen patients were included of whom seven were randomized to the STF arm. STF was well tolerated. Mean erythrocyte- and thrombocyte counts 7 days post-chemotherapy were significantly higher (P = 0.007, 95 % CI 0.106-0.638 and P = 0.00007, 95 % CI 38.7-104, respectively) in the STF group compared to the non-STF group. Non-hematological toxicity did not differ between the groups. Levels of γ-H2AX were significantly increased 30 min post-chemotherapy in CD45 + CD3- cells in non-STF, but not in STF patients.
conclusionsSTF during chemotherapy was well tolerated and reduced hematological toxicity of TAC in HER2-negative BC patients. Moreover, STF may reduce a transient increase in, and/or induce a faster recovery of DNA damage in PBMCs after chemotherapy. Larger studies, investigating a longer fasting period, are required to generate more insight into the possible benefits of STF during chemotherapy.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01304251 , March 2011.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.