AIMAN INAM
SOUTH WALES: An unwholesome diet influences the immune structure and leads to weight gain. This was discovered here by the investigators in a novel study.
In addition, consuming a healthy diet, enriched with proteins and nutrients, facilitates people stay hearty and live longer.
For the study, published in the Journal of Immunology, scientists examined the after affects of a western-style high-fat diet on the form of immune cells (T lymphocytes or T cells).
One of the researchers from the University of New South Wales, Abigail Pollock noted: “Our research looked at whether bad diets have consequences before we notice an increase in body weight. We found that over-consumption of saturated fats is a form of malnutrition: one that needs to be taken seriously.”
Pollock further maintained: “We fed mice a western-style high-fat diet for nine weeks to observe if this diet would impact the T cell response before the animal gains weight. Despite our hypothesis that the T cell response would be weakened we actually saw the opposite: the percentage of T cells multiplying increased.”
The study further pointed out that one scientific effect of overactive T cells might be autoimmune sickness where the immune structure starts hitting healthy organs of the body.
“T cells are actually affected prior to the mice becoming overweight. Lipids in the diet change the abundance of lipids in the cell membrane, which in turn changes the structure of the cell altering the responsiveness of the T cells and changing the immune response,” Pollock further explained.
An unwholesome diet influences the immune structure and leads to weight gain.
