DAY 37 | Today’s FIRE Map

Fighting Infection: Diet And Immunity

In a Matchbox:

We’ve learned that our addiction to carbs plays a significant role in the top ten causes of death globally. High sugar consumption has direct links to various health issues, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and more. Sugar negatively impacts the immune system, slowing down phagocytes’ ability to fight infections and triggering inappropriate inflammation. Additionally, high glucose levels fuel bacteria and viruses, making it harder for the immune system to keep up. However, a ketogenic diet can work wonders for our immunity. It can reset the sugar-damaged immune response, deprive microbes of their preferred fuel, reduce harmful immune responses, and boost T-cell immunity. A 30-60 hour fast can also provide a quick immune system reset. Embracing the FIRE Diet and making healthier dietary choices can significantly improve our immunity and overall health. Keep up the great work on your journey to better health!

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FIGHTING INFECTION – Diet and Immunity

How the FIRE Diet builds your immunity

By now, you probably know (or suspect) that our addiction to carbs lies behind almost every single one of the top ten causes of death, globally. Let’s take a look at the stats.

In 2016 (the most recent year for which we have statistics), some 57 million people died. More than half of these deaths were attributed to just ten causes.

More than a quarter of all deaths (27%) were due to just two causes: Ischaemic heart disease and stroke.

Here is the full list:

Ischaemic heart disease: 6%
Stroke: 2%
Emphysema: 3%
Pneumonia: 2%
Dementia: 5%
Lung cancer: 0%
Diabetes: 8%
Road injury: 5%
Diarrhoea: 4%
Tuberculosis: 3%

Total: 53.8%

Of the above list, we now know that causes 1, 2, 5 and 7 are directly linked to sugar consumption. Sugar is not the only cause of these conditions, but certainly a major contributor. What is less clear is that causes 4, 6, 9 and 10 also have strong links to either sugar consumption or a high carb diet.

Comparing smoking and sugar as contributors to the top 10 causes of death, one feels that the two probably contribute almost equal parts to global deaths.

Sugar is the new smoking

How does sugar do its damage?

Let us begin with a quick overview of the immune system. This system is exceedingly complex, so we will only touch on the basics.

The immune system stands on two legs:

Cellular immunity (cells attack alien microbes)
Humoral immunity (antibodies attack alien microbes)

Cellular immunity is mediated by phagocytes. Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by swallowing bacterial waste and small foreign particles. The process of phagocytosis differs from autophagy because phagocytes consume large particles, like bacteria and autophagy is the taking up, and repurposing of internal cell organelles – like the mitochondria. Phagocytes work to destroy particles like bacteria that could infect the host.

There are five main types of phagocytes, of which neutrophils are one type.

In a 1973 study done at Loma Linda University, a 100 g dose of sugar was given to study participants. Bloods were taken and the neutrophil activity was measured. The results showed a marked drop in the capacity of neutrophils to engulf bacteria from half an hour onwards, peaking between 1 and 2 hours. The study period was only 5 hours, but by the end of this period, the neutrophils were still not fully recovered from their sugar-induced sleepiness.

On the other hand a fast of 30-60 hours dramatically increased the phagocytic activity of neutrophils.

So, on the surface, it seems that fasting is a good response to bacterial or viral infections.

But wait, there’s more.

In another study at Yale, mice were given food-poisoning by the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. They were then force-fed, and the mice died. To find out what macronutrients were responsible for their death, the Yale team split the macronutrients and fed them separately.

The Listeria mice survived when they were force-fed fats or proteins. However, when the infected mice consumed carbs or glucose, they died.

Starving the mice of sugar while they were infected with Listeria kept them alive.

So, the #9 leading cause of death, diarrhoea, also has a likely sugar component hidden beneath the surface. The WHO recommends using an oral rehydration fluid high in sugar to treat diarrhoea. Not the best move, it would seem.

Similarly, pneumonia (#4) and tuberculosis (#10) are both made worse in the presence of a high sugar diet. The immune system cannot cope with these infections in the presence of high blood sugar.

But it’s not just that sugar puts the phagocytes to sleep.

A 2018 study in fruit flies (with which we share 60% of our genes) showed that a high sugar diet also caused an abnormally high response among Natural Killer, or NK cells, leading to inappropriate inflammation. It is likely that the glycation of cell proteins by excess sugar causes the body to misidentify itself and to accidentally trigger an immune response against itself.

Sugar should therefore be the number one suspect in autoimmune diseases.

Other studies in diabetics show that the humoral, or antibody, response is muted in the presence of high blood glucose.

But sugar does not just slow down or misdirect the immune system. It also feeds microbes. Like cancer cells, bacteria and viruses need to simplify their energy metabolism in order to multiply quickly. To do this, they focus on glucose as their only source of energy. This is one reason why you will not find bacteria growing on fat, ever.

In other words, in the presence of high glucose levels, bacteria and viruses can replicate much faster. This makes it harder for the immune system to keep up, especially if the immune system is crippled by sugar.

Lastly, high glucose levels can cause an immune response called adherence. In adherence, microbes are covered by antibodies, beginning an immune response to destroy the agent. In this process, red blood cells clump around the infecting microbes. If adherence is increased, the red blood cell clots can become bigger, leading to blockage of small arteries. This is very likely a key pathway in the development of severe COVID-19 in diabetic patients. In COVID-19, the lack of oxygenation in the lungs is not due to constriction of the airways, but due to small clots inside the lungs. These micro-clots prevent blood from flowing through the lungs, leading to low oxygen levels in the blood.

Let’s recap quickly:

Sugar can damage the immune system by:

Slowing down the ability of neutrophils to engulf foreign agents
Activating NK cells to attack the body’s own cells
Reducing the body’s ability to produce antibodies
Glycating proteins, leading the immune system to mistakenly target the body
Feeding microbes to replicate faster
Increasing adherence, leading to micro blood clots

Now let us look how a ketogenic diet can boost the immune system.

We already saw that a high fat or a high protein diet helped mice with food poisoning to survive.

In another mouse study done at Yale, this time using Influenza A viruses, researchers found that a ketogenic diet boosted the number of T-cells in the lungs. The more T-cells there are in the lungs, the harder it is for an infective agent to cross into the bloodstream. The T-cells also increased mucus production in the lungs, which trapped the viruses and prevented them from infecting the lungs.

In other research, a ketogenic diet was found to block the production of inflammasomes, which are known to be involved in autoimmune disorders.

The benefits of a ketogenic diet on the immune system can even begin before birth. In a 2017 study, pregnant mice were injected with immune irritants to induce autism in the offspring. This autism is

mediated via a misdirected immune response. The mother mice fed on a ketogenic diet produced offspring that did not show signs of autism, compared to mother mice on a standard diet.

In a January 20202 publication, also in mice, researchers showed that even one week on a ketogenic diet is enough to significantly shift the immune response in the right direction.

In summary, the ketogenic diet can:

rapidly reset the sugar-damaged immune response,
deprive microbes of their favourite fuel,
reduce potentially harmful immune responses
reduce glycation of proteins and
boost T-cell immunity
In addition, if you need a really quick reset of the immune system, a 30-60 hour fast seems to be the best treatment.