High fat and low carbohydrate help fight the flu

, published in the journal Science-Immunology, suggests that eating less carbohydrate and more fat can prevent the flu. Feeding mice with so-called ketones seems to increase certain immune cells, which may be the reason for this effect.
diet forces the body to burn fat to get energy, which helps to lose weight. At the same time, people may experience flu-like symptoms known as "ketone flu" because the body has adapted to so few carbohydrates. Ketone diets are also associated with improving heart health and controlling blood sugar in diabetics, but many of the evidence is contradictory.
Akiko Iwasaki of Yale University School of Medicine and colleagues have previously found that a ketone diet reduces inflammation in glucon mice. Because inflammation is common in both gyrations and flu, the team believes the ketone diet can also combat flu-related inflammation. This inflammation can seriously damage the lungs.
to test this hypothesis, the researchers first fed the mice ketones or standard foods and then infected them with influenza A virus, the most serious of which is the virus, a week later. Four days later, all seven mice fed standard food died of the infection. By comparison, five out of 10 mice fed ketones died of infection. The mice, which ate ketone-based foods, also did not lose much weight, which is usually a clear sign of influenza infection in animals.
study found that the ketone diet increased the number of a specific type of T cells in the lungs of mice (T cells are key to the body's immune response). The increase in these T-cells reduces the sensitivity of lung cells to infection and increases the production of mucus.
the extra mucus seems important to protect mice because it stops the spread of the flu virus, said Iwasaki, a researcher at the university.
although the metabolism of mice and humans is different, the findings could mean that people can get similar protection when eating ketone foods. (Source: Xu Xu, China Science Journal)
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