A high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet like the Keto regimen has its fans, but influenza apparently isn’t one of them.
Mice fed a ketogenic diet were better able to combat the flu virus than mice fed food high in carbohydrates, according to a new Yale University study published Nov. 15 in the journal Science Immunology.
The ketogenic diet — which for people includes meat, fish, poultry, and non-starchy vegetables — activates a subset of T cells in the lungs not previously associated with the immune system’s response to influenza, enhancing mucus production from airway cells that can effectively trap the virus, the researchers report.
Interesting. I’ve never heard of this diet but probably my diet is more along these lines already, with added chocolate. Without taking notes of what I eat I’d say it’s higher fat and lower carbs. And I do seem to have enhanced mucus production. Until I got sick with the flu two years ago I’d never had flu, and only recently started having the flu vaccine though I was eligible for it, I hadn’t taken up the offer sooner, yet didn’t get flu even when people all around me did 🤔 So could there have been advantages to my high fat diet after all. From now on though I’ll stick to having the flu jab, and try to reduce my fat (and sugar) intake and see if it lessens my mucus production.
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