High-Fat Diet and Immune System

New animal evidence suggests that a high-fat diet may be associated with a weakened immune response.

In the study, obese mice were fed either a high-fat diet, in which 60 percent of calories came from fat, or a low-fat diet, in which 10 percent of calories came from fat. They were then infected with a bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus.

Mice in the high-fat group gained significantly more weight and experienced significant declines in immune system activity compared to the control group. Mice in the high-fat diet group were more likely to die from the infection and their bacteria load was 10 times higher than the control group. The authors suggest that their white blood cells may have been unable to fight against the bacteria as effectively.

However, these results are preliminary. Additional research is needed to fully understand how fat may affect the immune system.

For more information about bacterial infections, please visit Natural Standard's Medical Conditions database.

References

1.Natural Standard: The Authority on Integrative Medicine. http://www.naturalstandard.com/

2.Strandberg L, Verdrengh M, Enge M, et al. Mice chronically fed high-fat diet have increased mortality and disturbed immune response in sepsis. PLoS One. 2009 Oct 28;4(10):e7605. View Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19865485?dopt=Abstract
 
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