Dieting In The Winter Bad For Your Health?
Posted on: Friday, 2 January 2009, 09:45 CST
Thinking of starting the New Year off with a healthy diet? Think again: a diet may weaken your body's capability for battling the flu virus.
Researchers discovered mice that consumed a healthy, calorie-controlled eating system, could not fight the infection as effectively as those eating normally.
The data, available in the Journal of Nutrition, says that instead of "starve a fever", those with a fever should feast. Flu cases in England and Wales alone are currently approaching a nine-year high, but in the US, there were less than 900 reported cases, a nice, low number.
The research team at Michigan State University noted that even though the mice eating the lower calorie plan consumed okay amounts of vitamins and minerals, they were too weak to generate the cells used to combat an infection.
As well as being susceptible to the life-threatening virus, the mice were sick longer, lost additional weight and exhibited symptoms of other health concerns.
"Our research shows that having a body ready to fight a virus will lead to a faster recovery and less-severe effects than if it is calorically restricted," stated study author Elizabeth Gardner to BBC News.
Think that you are safe due to that flu vaccination you received? The researchers still encourage you to hold out on that diet until spring.
"If the strain of flu a person is infected with is different from the strain included in the flu vaccination, then your body sees this as a primary infection and must produce the antibodies to fight it off," Gardner noted.
The investigation is not an excuse to enable unhealthy habits, but to set aside major dieting to only the eight months when the flu is not so active.
The current statistics from England has revealed that flu cases are up 73%; experts think that the abnormally cold weather may have caused the outbreak. Numbers so far in the US and Canada are noticeably lower.
John Oxford, an flu expert at the UK Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, told BBC "common sense should prevail at this time of year".
"There are a lot of viruses and while it might have been better to avoid those extra helpings of Christmas pudding in the first place, now is not the time to be thinking about diets."
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On the Net:
- CDC - Influenza (Flu) | Weekly Report: Influenza Summary Update Week 51, 2008-2009 Season
- 2008-2009 FluWatch: December 7, 2008 to December 13, 2008 (Weeks 50)
- Michigan State University
- Journal of Nutrition
Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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