Do you have flu? Eat more grains and avoid overly processed foods, research suggests

According to data from a study published in a scientific journal Cell Reports, overeating compared to highly processed foods. grains can increase the likelihood of catching the flu. The research was conducted by researchers from Australia’s University of Sydney in partnership with a scientist from China’s Shenzhen University School of Medicine.

The aim of the study with laboratory mice is to understand how the mammalian organism fights influenza infection. So they divided the mice into two groups, fed some grains and others highly processed foods, but both had the same average nutritional value.

After the feeding process began, they infected the mice with influenza virus and continued the diets for a while. During the observation they state: all mice fed highly processed foods died — diet prior to infection did not significantly affect the health or behavior of the mice.

Avoid ultra-processed

The grain-fed animals survived, recovered, and began gaining weight lost due to infection ten days later. The mice in the other group did not gain weight even before they died. The scientists found evidence that a signaling protein called IFN-y is one of the factors responsible for the mice’s recovery.

The analysis says the biggest problem is not related to the animals’ immune response, but is due to their low recovery capacity. In fact, previous studies have shown that calorie density and nutrient concentration can be extremely important during recovery from an infection.