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Comment by oisdk | Hacker News Reader

No there are not. There are studies in mice (like this one), studies in vitro, etc.

> There's limited interest in it though because most of those things simply have no profit potential

This is not true. There is a lot of interest in the Keto diet, it has been well-studied and has uses in treating epilepsy. The reason it's not prescribed more generally is because of those studies, which show it doesn't work. Not everything is a conspiracy.

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It’s not accurate to call keto well studied wrt cancer or that it doesn’t work. It’s an active area of research and there are many studies showing positive effects, but most/all study designs are limited. It’s also true that without a clear path to making a drug, big expensive studies like large scale human trials are not likely to be funded.

Additionally, any result suggesting a new approach has profit potential. If fasting was effective then a pill giving the same benefits would have a big market.

A fasting pill? Would it lock a person's mouth shut or maybe cause vomiting?

Not much money for the medical industry if they recommend putting down the fork and spoon.

A fasting pill? Like GLP-1 drugs which reduce hunger and thus reduce food intake? There might be a market for something like that.

Sort of, the time restricted eating the article is about would require something different, like a pill that stops your body from absorbing some nutrients for 12 hours or something like that.

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