For weight loss, there are a number of diet plans available to choose from. Among all of them, keto diet has particularly become popular for its apparent fast results. The diet includes low carbohydrate, low calorie and high fat foods; a combination that seems to be working for many people. Apart from weight loss, here's another reason keto diet many be beneficial for health. If the findings of a new study are to be believed, keto diet may also help in improving immunity of the body and protect it from common infections and flu like Influenza.
The researchers earlier found out that the keto diet could control inflammation in mice with gout. Inflammation also occurs due to flu so they figured that keto diet could have the same effect on flu-induced inflammation, which can be detrimental for lung health. They found that keto diet could boost a specific type of T cell found in lungs that plays a major role in activating the body's immune response. The finding was published in the journal 'Science Immunology'.
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Lead author Emily L. Goldberg from Yale School of Medicine said, "In this study, we show that the consumption of a low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic diet (KD) protects mice from lethal IAV infection and disease. KD feeding resulted in an expansion of T cells in the lung that improved barrier functions, thereby enhancing antiviral resistance. Expansion of these protective T cells required metabolic adaptation to a ketogenic diet because neither feeding mice a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet nor providing chemical ketone body substrate that bypasses hepatic ketogenesis protected against infection. Therefore, KD-mediated immune-metabolic integration represents a viable avenue toward preventing or alleviating influenza disease."
The study discovered that Keto diet provides protection against influenza virus infection in mice. "Harnessing the beneficial effects of KD through T cells may therefore offer a potential previously unrecognized avenue for influenza disease prevention and treatment," concluded Emily L. Goldberg.