It's somewhat theoretical but both refeeding and diet breaks may help adherence, performance, and they could potentially reverse or offset some of the hormonal downregulation that occurs from prolonged dieting.

I wouldn't recommend carb refeeding to anyone who isn't lean already unless those refeeds significantly increase adherence. For perspective sake, males in the low teens of females in the low 20's (bf%).

Refeeds tend to be low fat, very high carb with calories around maintenance or just slightly above.

Diet breaks are basically extended periods at maintenance and I'd generally recommend those based on individual circumstance. I'd look at performance and adherence factors as well as dieting duration. So for example if someone has been dieting for several months and they're obviously run down and facing adherence and mood and performance issues, a week or two at maintenance could resolve a lot of that.

I first learnt about refeeds from these articles but I'm not sure how accurate they are, especially the sciencey bits and bobs. Both are by great trainers but I'm not sure if their info on this applies to natural folk.
http://nickmitchellblog.com/cheating-refeeds-fat-loss/
and
http://www.phillearney.com/nutrition/cheat-meals-part-i/
http://www.phillearney.com/nutrition/cheat-meals-part-ii/