What effect does diet have on our immune system?
What effect does diet have on our immune system?
Nutrition significantly influences our immune system, particularly when differentiating between the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system.
Innate Immune System
The body's initial defence mechanism against outside threats is the innate immune system, which is responsible for reactions such as fever and the synthesis of interferon.
It's very important to defend against viruses like COVID-19 and the flu. Our body's first line of defence works quickly to fight off these infections. On the other hand, there's a second part of our immune system that learns to recognise and remember specific germs, creating special proteins called antibodies to help target those specific threats.
Role of Diet in Immune Function
Recent research has found that what we eat can affect how our immune system works. For instance, some studies show that changes in a specific gene can boost the production of an important substance that helps our bodies fight off viruses more effectively.
This means that our diet might play a role in how well we can defend ourselves against illnesses.
Impact of Pegylated Interferon in COVID-19
A research article released in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that giving Pegylated interferon during COVID-19 decreased hospitalizations by approximately 50%, irrespective of vaccination status.
Key Findings from the Dietary Patterns Study
Furthermore, a study involving nearly 3,000 healthcare workers examined how diet affected COVID-19 outcomes.
People shared information about their eating habits, indicating whether they followed plant-based diets, included fish in their diets (known as pescetarian diets), or focused on low-carb, high-protein diets. The goal of this research was to find out how these different types of diets might affect how seriously people experience COVID-19.
Researchers found that in six countries, following a plant-based or pescetarian diet was linked to lower chances of experiencing moderate to severe COVID-19 compared to control groups. The study involved around 2,300 participants, including physicians and nurses, who reported their diets.
Key findings included:
- People on a plant-based diet had 8.6% in the very mild group and only 2.9% in the moderate to severe group, compared to higher percentages in control groups.
- In contrast, those following a low carbohydrate, high protein diet had a 16.9% occurrence of moderate to severe cases.
Self-reported dietary patterns showed significant differences in vegetable intake, legumes, and nuts among those on plant-based diets compared to others, but no significant differences in refined grains, sugars, or alcohol consumption, which indicates a healthy user effect might not be the main factor.
Impact of Plant-Based Diets on COVID-19 Severity
The study found that people who followed plant-based diets had a lower chance of experiencing severe COVID-19, even when considering other factors like age, gender, and health history. This implies that eating a diet rich in plants might offer some protection against the virus.
Model 3: Comprehensive Health Analysis
In this analysis, we present Model 3, that considers a broad range of variables. This model not only includes everything from Model 2 but also adds important elements like body mass index (BMI) and different health conditions.
These conditions encompass diabetes, prediabetes, cholesterol levels, hypertension, coronary artery disease (CAD), history of heart attack, heart failure, cancer, previous lung diseases, and prior lung infections. We also factor in aspects like being overweight, having asthma or autoimmune diseases. Despite this extensive consideration of health factors, the results indicate that there isn't a significant difference in outcomes.
Notable Health Outcomes of Plant-Based Diet Adherents
Interestingly, we noted that individuals who self-report following a plant-based diet reveal some noteworthy differences in health outcomes. When we introduced a detailed assessment, comprising a list of 47 different health-related items, It became clear that people who follow certain diets have a noticeably lower risk of experiencing moderate to severe COVID-19..
This leads us to ponder whether adopting a plant-based or plant-based pescatarian diet might enhance interferon response in the body. While this question may seem ambitious, research has indeed explored this intriguing possibility.
Vegan vs. Ketogenic Diets
A recent important study published in the well-respected journal Nature Medicine is called "Different Immune Responses Triggered by Vegan and Ketogenic Diets in People." This research explores how these two popular diets affect the immune system in different ways.
Comparative Diet Design: Vegan vs. Ketogenic
It is important to clarify that a vegan diet isnāt necessarily at odds with a ketogenic diet; however, in this study, the researchers created distinct groups for comparison. In Group A, they included four women alongside six men, while Group B consisted of five women and five men. This organized method enables for a thorough investigation into the differing immune responses elicited by these two dietary patterns.
This study was a carefully designed experiment that tested two different diets. One group followed a vegan diet, which had low fat and high carbohydrates, making up 10.3% of fat and 75.2% of carbohydrates.
The other group tried a ketogenic diet, which was quite the opposite, with a high fat content of 75.8% and only 10% carbohydrates.
The goal was to see how these two dietary approaches compared to each other.
In this trial, participants followed each diet for two weeks, and blood samples were taken at both ends.
It turned out that the order in which people followed the diets did not matter. In both cases, the results showed significant changes, which we'll discuss.
The participants in the study came from different backgrounds, yet the findings were consistent. Now, let's review the key results.
