Ben GreenfieldFounder, Ben Greenfield Life

The Science of Stress Adaptation: Why Some Get Stronger While Others Burn Out

26 Mar 2026 · 2 min

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1:30

In this segment, the speaker highlights the complete absence of human clinical trials testing prolonged fasting as a cancer treatment, despite strong animal and epidemiological evidence suggesting fasting creates an anti‑cancer environment through gene activation, immune modulation, and mitochondrial benefits. The speaker then describes the severe, long‑lasting chemotherapy‑induced peripheral neuropathy patients endure, likening it to walking on glass. To address this, research shows that applying cold gloves and socks 15 minutes before and after chemotherapy can almost entirely eliminate neuropathy from common chemotherapeutics, and similar scalp cooling can markedly reduce hair loss. The speaker frames these simple temperature‑based interventions as examples of environmental hormesis that protect bodily function during cancer therapy.

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Now, I want to be clear here because this is kind of a taboo subject. There is no human clinical trials evaluating prolonged fasting for treatment for cancer, not one. And I find that unbelievably fascinating given the fact that we have robust animal studies, strong epidemiological studies, and there are shared physiological mechanisms between mammals that show fasting creates a potent anti-cancer environment. Prolonged fasting in particular activates genes and compounds that disrupt cancer, activates anti-cancer immunity, and improve mitochondrial function, along with a long list of other benefits. I want to stress that this condition is excruciating. I've had patients describe it as if they are walking on glass or someone's holding a lighter under their foot. And worse still is that it can persist for years after the treatment has ended. So it's, it's, it's a big, big thing, and if we could alleviate that with simple cold, that would be great. That's exactly what the research has shown. So what they do is place cold gloves and socks on patients undergoing chemotherapy. They apply this chili treatment 15 minutes before and keep it on until 15 minutes after. What the results show is that it can almost completely abolish chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy against the most commonly used chemotherapeutics, which is huge, absolutely huge. And then this same treatment is also applied to the scalp to help mitigate hair loss. I absolutely love that. This is a perfect example how we can use environmental hormesis to protect function.