A critical care medicine physician has highlighted a dietary habit that could significantly lower the risk of cancer, chronic diseases, and Alzheimer’s. Doctor Neena Chandrasekaran, also a pulmonary specialist, shared the insight on TikTok under the handle @neenziemd , shedding light on what she calls her “things they don’t tell you” series – and this time it’s about the connection between diet and disease. In her video, she explains a natural bodily process triggered by fasting, known as autophagy.
According to Healthline , the term “autophagy” comes from the Greek words “auto,” meaning self, and “phagy,” meaning to eat—literally translating to “self-eating.” Dr Chandrasekaran describes this process as a form of internal cleansing, where the body systematically breaks down, recycles, and removes damaged or toxic cells.
She continued: “This has now been shown to reduce risks of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and works like an internal reset.” She said that in some religions they fast – such as Ramadan – and “the people who have fasted before due to religious reasons or holidays were actually onto something and have been found to have decreased rates of cancers Alzheimer’s, and other chronic conditions.”
In fact, she further revealed that “fasting triggers autophagy and this is its own internal reset that has been found to really help the body reset itself with new cells to be grown.”
Supporting these observations, a 2024 study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology found that long-term intermittent fasting may help reduce metabolic disorders associated with cancer. Over the course of a decade, researchers followed participants who practiced intermittent fasting and observed reduced rates of obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes — all of which are major risk factors for cancer.
In yet more ways to reduce your risk of illnesses, the doctor mentioned in another video on her TikTok channel that if you like to do “intermittent fasting, this has now been shown to reverse the brain ageing by 2.6 years.”
In order for it to work, she explained that the fasting “needs to be done for about eight weeks – or two months – in order to benefit from it.” Speaking about the research which “was just published in nature communications”, she said the people that intermittently fasted did not have “big meals” but instead had a few smaller meals.
The people in this category “experienced a reversal of brain ageing by MRIs”, she noted adding: “Intermittent fasting along with a good diet can improve cognitive function, decreased risk of Alzheimer’s dementia and other dementia down the line. This has also been shown to improve insulin resistance and decrease risk of diabetes.”
