Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This documentary started off focusing on a fasting center in Russia and the history of their program. Voice translation was required, the information was not based on science (purely anecdotal), and the video quality was also poor - I became very skeptical and almost stopped watching. Based on the negative reviews, it looks like a lot people stopped watching at this point and quickly labeled this as quasi-science, selling snake-oil, and quackery. However, the documentary slowly builds to add more and more science. It describes the three metabolic fuels (carbs, fats, proteins), the order the body uses them, and the resulting effects. It then builds a lot of steam by reporting on several significant studies and trials done with fasting. It's a shame that some people stopped watching before this point, because this was where the documentary earned its namesake. Towards the last 10-15 minutes it focused on the efforts of USC researchers, led by Dr. Longo, and described their method and results on their experiments with fasting mice exposed to chemotherapy, as well as results and testimony of clinical human trials. All their work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed, scientific journals (for example, do a Google search on " Diet Mimicking Fasting Promotes Regeneration and Reduces Autoimmunity and Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms" to see a clinical trial done by the USC researchers). I was particularly stunned when they analyzed the expression of genes in healthy cells within a fasted and non-fasted body, and compared gene expression in healthy cells to cancer cells within a body in a fasted-state - the results were shocking, but in a good way. I was on the fence about fasting, but the science presented in this documentary convinced me that fasting is good for the body. I plan to read the studies referenced in the film and do a fasting protocol myself.