Intermittent fasting may help protect from infections.

Hello everybody, this is good news for those who practice IF although this is unclear it appears that fasting increases some gut bacteria and lessons others which could protect against a stomach infection.

Here's the article please see:

upi.com/Health_News/2021/08...

[Subtle_badger 16Kg IF 72hrs]

Thanks Jerry, interesting. I remember many years ago seeing a doctor because after a dose of food poisoning, I wasn't feeling right. He suggested I eat nothing for 24 hours, in case their was pathogens remaining, to allow them to flush out. It worked, but maybe that wasn't the mechanism; maybe the pause allowed my microbiome to regroup 🤔

However, I am always cautious with studies using animal models, particularly non-primates. The results of mouse studies often don't translate to humans, and indeed in this case it doesn't seem to me that mice are a good model of us.

journals.plos.org/plospatho...

This pathogen causes gastroenteritis (food poisoning) in humans and in antibiotic-pretreated mice.

So they have to mess with the mouse microbiome before they start.

Even if the effect is the same in humans, I wonder it's benefit. Salmonella is a food borne bacteria. It's nearly impossible you would get it in your system when fasting, because you have eat something.

But still, the next time I get food poisoning (probably in France, I always get food poisoning in France), I will try fasting to see if I can recover quicker.

[Arthrath]

Maybe fasting put the body under stress which is the equivalent of giving it a good kick up the backside. We don’t seem to thrive on constant ‘foot on the gas’. Too many similes?😱