Dieters may struggle to fight the flu virus

[theblackalchemist]

Dieters may struggle to fight the flu virus

 

Washington: Dieters who are on calorie-restricted diets during flu season are more susceptible to influenza, says a new study by US researchers.

 

Michigan State University nutritional immunology professor Elizabeth Gardner conducted the research, which has been published in the November issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

 

In the study, the researcher showed that mice with a calorie-restricted diet were more likely to die during the first few days of infection than mice with a normal diet.

 

Caloric restriction is the practice of reducing the intake of calories to 40 per cent of a normal diet, while maintaining adequate vitamins and minerals.

 

“Our studies show that calorically-restricted mice have increased susceptibility to influenza, and their bodies are not prepared to produce the amount of natural killer cells needed to combat the stress of fighting an infection,” Gardner said.

 

In her research, both regularly fed mice and calorically-restricted mice exposed to the virus exhibited decreased food intake as they tried to fight off the infection.

 

The mice on calorically-restricted diets, however, took longer to recover and exhibited increased mortality, weight loss and other negative effects.

 

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