They found that fasting was an effective treatment, but patients lost the benefits of the fast once they fell back into their normal lifestyle and began eating unhealthy again. In this study the patients took a fast for four weeks and maintained a strict vegetarian diet for a year afterwards. The benefits of the fast included reduction in swollen joints, increased strength, and overall better health. They were still evident at the end of the year. They found that there was a substantial reduction in disease activity as well.
Hormonal changes are one of the many biochemical changes that takes place during a fast.
Most of these changes are unpredictable and depend largely on your state of health at the beginning of the fast. This is seen to have a positive role in strengthening the immune system. These three studies show how important our diet is to our well-being. It effects our growth patterns and the health of our body systems. The websites I found had an enormous amount of information both for and against the use of fasting as a method of preventative medicine.