High fat, low carbohydrate helps fight flu

According to a study published in science immunology, eating less carbohydrates and more fat can prevent influenza Feeding mice so-called ketones seems to increase some immune cells, which may be the reason for this effect A ketone diet forces the body to burn fat for energy, which helps lose weight At the same time, people may have flu like symptoms called ketoaccinia, because the body has adapted to so little carbohydrates Ketone diet is also related to improving heart health and controlling blood sugar in diabetic patients, but many evidences are contradictory Akiko Iwasaki and colleagues at Yale University School of medicine have previously found that a ketone diet reduces inflammation in gout mice Because inflammation is common in gout and flu, the team believes that a ketone diet can also deal with flu related inflammation This inflammation can seriously damage the lungs To test this hypothesis, the researchers first fed the mice ketones or standard food, and infected them with influenza A virus (the most serious one) one week later Four days later, all seven mice fed standard food died of infection In contrast, five of the 10 mice fed ketone died of infection These ketone eating mice also lost little weight, which is usually a clear sign of influenza infection It was found that ketone diet increased the number of a specific type of T cell in the lungs of mice (T cell is the key to human immune response) The increase in these T cells reduces the sensitivity of lung cells to infection and increases mucus production Iwasaki said the extra mucus seems to be important to protect mice because it can prevent the spread of influenza virus Although the metabolism of mice is different from that of humans, this finding may mean that people can get similar protection when they eat ketones