The Keto Diet may help you combat the flu!

The Ketogenic diet (generally rich in fats, moderate in protein, and low in carbohydrates) has drawn it’s fair share of attention. Current studies have shown the Keto diet can make a measurable positive impact on your health. It can help safely control seizures, combat obesity, and reverse kidney damage (diabetic nephropathy) in patients with Type 1 and 2 diabetes, among other things.

New science regarding the Keto diet, and it’s impact on the Flu, comes out of Yale University. Mice fed a ketogenic diet were able to activate ”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 mice fed a keto diet also had a higher survival rate than mice on a “high-carb normal diet”.

Further studies need to be conducted to see if this same system response occurs in humans at the same level of effectiveness, but according to one of the study’s authors Visha Deep Dixit, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Comparative Medicine and of Immunobiology

"This study shows that the way the body burns fat to produce ketone bodies from the food we eat can fuel the immune system to fight flu infection,"

A ketogenic diet isn’t for everyone though, patients with heart rhythm disorders or other issues may suffer adverse effects. Please consult your doctor before beginning a new lifestyle regimen.

-Kelsey

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. "High-fat ketogenic diet to control seizures is safe over long term, study suggests." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 February 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216163531.htm>.

Reversal of Diabetic Nephropathy by a Ketogenic Diet
Poplawski MM, Mastaitis JW, Isoda F, Grosjean F, Zheng F, et al. (2011) Reversal of Diabetic Nephropathy by a Ketogenic Diet. PLOS ONE 6(4): e18604. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018604

“Ketogenic diet activates protective γδ T cell responses against influenza virus infection”
Emily L. Goldberg1,2, Ryan D. Molony2,3, Eriko Kudo2, Sviatoslav Sidorov1,Yong Kong4,, Vishwa Deep Dixit1,2,5,* and Akiko Iwasaki2,6,7,* Science Immunology 15 Nov 2019: Vol. 4, Issue 41, eaav2026, DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aav2026

American College of Cardiology. "Low-carb diet tied to common heart rhythm disorder: Study suggests using caution when restricting carbohydrates for weight loss." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 March 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190306081652.htm>.