Healthy metabolism has been linked to healthy immunity and I am going to give you all the
studies that have been carried out on the
effect of ketogenic diet on immunity.
Stop listening to people and decide for yourself
if the diet wrecks or improves your immunity.
My name is AB
I am a biochemistry researcher, a sports nutritionist
and an amateur triathlete.
I will be speaking about the science behind
ketogenic diet every single week.
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Keto diet and gamma delta T cells
Whenever it comes to ketogenic diet and immunity
it is always linked to this one study that
was published in science immunology in 2019.
In the study it was shown that consumption
of a low carbohydrate high fat diet protected
mice from a lethal Influenza A virus.
The study showed that the diet led to an expansion
of the gamma delta T cells which are the immune
cells also present in the lungs, thereby increasing
the antiviral resistance.
You can imagine the T cells to be the scouts
that are circulating in your system and when
they come in touch with foreign materials
such as bacteria and in this case a virus,
bind to it and produce pro inflammatory molecules
such as cytokines and interleukins.
Cytokines and interleukins recruit other work
forces such as Natural killer T cells and
macrophages which then come to the site of
infection and engulf the foreign material
thus digesting them.
One more interesting result from this study
was that mice on ketogenic diet was able to
maintain blood oxygen saturation levels.
This suggests that the lungs had better gas
exchange compared to the standard chow diet
fed mice which was mostly 60 percent carbohydrates
in spite of the fact that the lungs were infected.
The study does not end there, it is way more
detailed.
The study showed that the mucus producing
cells which line the lungs were increased
in the ketogenic diet fed mice and were capable
of trapping foreign materials way more efficiently
compared to the standard chow diet fed mice.
Also, the Mitochondria in ketogenic diet
mice had higher expression of the catalase
enzyme which is responsible for the clearance
of the reactive oxygen species.
For all of you who are speculating that these
are just studies carried out in mice
and they are not applicable for humans,
You are wrong, kindly educate yourselves.
This study has been carried out by some of
the top notch scientists in the field from
Yale University who have published the work
in a reputed journal Science Immunology.
The work has been done in light of entering
human therapeutic application and people
from the Yale school of medicine and school
of medicine, Harvard have been working on
this problem ever since 2016.
Now let us come to Autophagy.
Autophagy is the process by which cells start
eating themselves up to clear up old debris and
rejuvenate newer and healthier cells.
Impaired autophagy has been linked to autoimmune diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's
and also to cancer just to name a few.
And today we know that autophagy has been
associated with longevity.
Autophagy plays a vital role in host-immune
response and clearing out the microorganisms
that enter our system.
Having an unregulated autophagy is the key
to clearance of infectious intracellular pathogens.
For autophagy to occur the cells have to signal
for the same.
We know that this occurs through the up regulation
of the AMP kinase pathway and down regulation
of the mTOR pathway.
We can look at AMP Kinase pathways as up regulator
of regeneraton and mTOR pathway as inhibitor
of the same.
Ideally we need an up regulated AMP Kinase
pathway and down regulated mTOR pathway.
Ketone bodies especially the beta hydroxyl
butyrate has been shown to up regulate the
AMP kinase pathway in brain, heart and your
muscles.
Ketosis helping autophagy is an established
fact today.
Here is some food for thought.
For all of you who vouch for the high protein
diet, protein that gets oxidized accumulates
over time and interferes with cell functions
and promotes ageing.
Autophagy that is promoted by ketosis does
quite the contrary.
Keto diet for autoimmune diseases.
Autoimmune disease is a condition arising
from abnormal immune response where the immune
system attacks its own body parts.
It so happens that it occurs more often than
usual especially in the bowel or the gut when
we eat inflammatory food.
Gluten sensitivity is especially a very common
inflammatory bowel disease that is associated
with having flare-ups.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease
that is associated with the immune attacking
the neuron protecting called the myelin thus
leading to the neuron damage.
This has been associated with an impaired
brain and body coordination.
No treatment for multiple sclerosis exists
today and therapeutic application in the form
of ketogenic diet function has been widely
discussed.
Glucose metabolism in multiple sclerosis patients
is heavily down regulated and this can be
substituted by ketones entering the mitochondria
and producing energy.
This in turn alleviates weakness and fatigue
which are major symptoms of the disease.
Multiple sclerosis is not the only disease
that the ketogenic diet is helps
Rheumatoid Arthritis is characterized by a
severe inflammation of the joints and this
occurs due to an autoimmune attack.
Betahydroxy butyrate which is produced as
a part of ketosis has been found to down regulate
some of the pro inflammatory molecules such
as cytokines and interleukins and thus has
been discussed as a therapeutic application
for arthritis.
Psoriasis is a very common autoimmune disease
associated with redness of skin and plaques.
Today we have very clear evidence in the form
of clinical trials showing that ketogenic
diet alleviates the issues of psoriasis.
Keto diet for reducing inflammation and decreasing
oxidative stress.
Multiple studies have shown that the keto
diet and subsequent production of ketones,
especially beta hydroxyl butyrate reduces
reactive oxygen species and spares cells from
oxidative damage.
The Keto diet has also been shown to produce
antioxidative agents such as the glutathione
and the catalase enzyme.
In one study it was shown that the ketogenic
diet not only suppresses the production of
pro inflammatory molecules such as cytokines
and interleukins but also improves the hippocampal
synaptic plasticity which is associated with
memory, learning and motor function.
Similar to autophagy, the anti-inflammatory
and anti-oxidative properties of the ketogenic
is associated with an up regulation AMP Kinase
pathway and down regulation of mTOR pathway.
Here is a question for all of you keto junkies
out there.
Do you think there is a link between breathing
and immunity?
If so how?
Comment below and let me know.
I will give an answer to this question before
my next video.
Keto diet and gut microbiota.
Over the last decade or so, there has been
extensive research in the field of gut microbiome
and its fundamental role in health and disease.
Humans are home to an entire ecosystem of
microorganisms called as the gut microbiome
and this contains trillions of microorganisms
and thousands of bacterial species.
We now know that the gut microbiome plays
a role in evading pathogens, inflammation,
general immunity and autoimmune diseases.
A healthy gut not only ensures that it evades
off the pathogens, but it also helps in synthesis
of very important signaling molecules and
vitamins such as vitamin K.
The term leaky gut is used for increased
gut permeability which leads to antigens entering
from the gut into the blood stream especially
during an unhealthy state.
So what effect does the ketogenic diet have
to do with the gut microbiome and in turn
the immunity?
A very recent study carried out in june 2020
in CELL, showed that metagenomics and metabolomics
on stool samples of people who consumed ketogenic
diet showed two important effects.
1, There was a considerable reduction in bifidobacterial
growth in the gut which is known to produce
pro inflammatory molecules.
2, The reduction in bifidobacteria also led
to decrease in some pro inflammatory cells
called as Th17 cells.
While ketone bodies help in decreasing inflammation
and improving anti-oxidative stress, sugars
do quite the contrary.
Consumption of sugar has been shown to produce
pro inflammatory molecules such as C reactive
proteins in just half an hour half an hour
from consumption.
They are also known to pronounce other pro
inflammatory molecules such as Nf-kB.
Advanced glycation products or AGEs are damaging
products that are formed in the blood when
you consume excess sugar.
Sugar also produces high uric acid levels.
Sugar inflames the gut and causes a leaky
gut and it is also known to inflame the blood
vessels and cause something called atherosclerosis.
With all these points said it is safe to say
that the ketogenic diet alleviates all the
inflammatory damage caused by sugar.
I would like to end my video quoting the abstract
from this beautiful article published in cell
metabolism.
Fasting has been practiced for millennia,
but, only recently, studies have shed light
on its role in adaptive cellular responses
that reduce oxidative damage and inflammation,
optimize energy metabolism, and bolster cellular
protection.
In lower eukaryotes, chronic fasting extends
longevity, in part, by reprogramming metabolic
and stress resistance pathways.
In rodents intermittent or periodic fasting
protects against diabetes, cancers, heart
disease, and neurodegeneration, while in humans
it helps reduce obesity, hypertension, asthma,
and rheumatoid arthritis.
Thus, fasting has the potential to delay aging
and help prevent and treat diseases while
minimizing the side effects caused by chronic
dietary interventions.
We now know that fasting results in ketogenesis;
promotes potent changes in metabolic pathways
and cellular processes such as stress resistance,
lipolysis, and autophagy;
and can have medical applications that, in
some cases, are as effective as those of approved
drugs such as the dampening of seizures and
seizure-associated brain damage and the amelioration
of rheumatoid arthritis.
The first thing people say when they hear
about the keto diet is that it is a FAD diet
and there are no 'Long term studies' and
you do not know how it will affect your physiology.
Long term studies????
Here is what people do not know:
Ketogenic diet has been used as a modern therapeutic
intervention for diabetes and obesity for
the last 50 years.
Exactly 100 years back in 1920 it was used
for treatment of epilepsy, and it still continues
to be.
Around the same time Ketogenic diet was also
used for treatment for urinary tract infections.
Early Romans have been using this diet ever
since 50th century BC.
As long back as even before cultivation, the
hunters and gatherers were consuming the low
carbohydrate diet and were more likely in
the state of ketosis due to starvation.
Go back to the early man, the Neandrathals
and the Oase 1 man lived only on meat and
fish.
Here, seep this in.
Newly born infants are born in a state of
ketosis and they thrive on ketones by consuming
breast milk which contains 50 percent saturated
fats.
The mode of feasting and fasting has what
has helped our ancestors survive and ketosis
has been engraved in us as a 'metabolic advantage.'
And today people who do not have a formal
education and consume the standard American
diet which consists of 50 percent carbohydrates,
and which has been here only for the past
50 years call Keto diet a FAD diet!
Keto diet is way more than a diet, ketosis
is a state of being and today we know that
it does improve your immunity.
I have personally reviewed all these articles
and cataloged them in the description below.
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