Keto diet helps you fight flu, new research reveals

• The keto diet activates a subset of T cells in the lungs and enhance mucus production from airway cells that can effectively trap the virus.
• The recent research has been performed on mice but the finding could mean that people can get a similar protection from influenza.

According to a new research, a ketogenic (Keto) diet which includes meat, fish, poultry and non-starchy vegetables may help combat the flu virus.

The keto diet activates 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 recent research has been performed on mice and although mouse and human metabolisms differ, but the recent finding could mean that people get a similar protection from flu when on the keto diet.

Just one week on the keto diet protected mice from lethal flu infection and disease, finds a new study published in the journal Science Immunology.

Researchers fed mice a low-carb, high fat diet for seven days, before infecting them with influenza A virus. These mice retained lower quantities of the virus in the lungs and had greater survival rates compared to mice on a high-carb, low-fat ‘chow diet’, according to the study.

Apart from flu, it is a well known fact that the keto diet can help fend off tough-to-treat epileptic seizures in children, and also manage type-2 diabetes in adults.