Keto: Titanium Strong Immune System?

autoimmune
(Reina Noemi) #1

Hi Everyone! I’ve been Keto for like 5-6 months and in that time haven’t gotten sick ONCE. During the winter I usually get like 3 colds and so I’m super impressed lol. My mom was sick, coworkers, best friend and yet I’ve been unaffected. Except, during the holidays when I cheated, I immediately felt a cold coming on but went back Keto immediately and all signs of getting sick were gone.

I just LOVE this Keto by product and wanted to know if you guys were experiencing the same and how long you’ve been able to go without a cold

(John) #2

I got a typical chest cold when I was about 8 weeks into a ketogenic diet (late October). Nothing since then but it could just be luck.

(Doug) #3

While I don’t know of any sure science behind this, my gut feeling is that the lower general level of inflammation that a ketogenic diet achieves for many of us means some rest and recuperation for our immune systems - rendering them better able to respond when needed, potentially taking care of things in time - before we feel like we’ve got a cold.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

I started to torture my immune system as a small child exposing myself to all kinds of bad! The result is that I can’t really remember the last time I was sick from colds or flu. I had to start taking the “flu shot” a couple of years ago because I have a kidney transplant. Even though I take immunosuppressive drugs I still haven’t gotten sick. But I agree with @OldDoug ‘s theory. It’s the food caused illness’s that gave me hell.

(Scott) #5

Oh this is just great, possibly another keto benefit that may be impossible to document. I have had many around me get sick at work and the wife has been sick for a week. I can’t quantify it but I “feel” like I have an additional boost in my resistance to catching the latest bugs going around. Could also be all the keto kool-aid I drink too.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #6

:grin::wink: As in electrolyte water or unsubstantiated keto claims?

(Doug) #7

:smile: I think I had a cold perhaps 2 years ago, but they are few and far-between nowadays. Same here; never worried about really being ‘clean,’ too much, and to an extent I still believe that that which does not kill us makes us stronger. My wife gets grossed-out about some of the less-than-stellar “proper” hygiene, to be frank.

That said, I had bronchitis in '73 at the age of 14, and it sucked. If I have a weakness I think it’s respiratory.

I bet some of it is circumstantial, and yeah, would be hard to prove. If we get exposed to a strain of flu virus to which we don’t have any immunity, maybe we get it, keto or not.

In the long run, there are some definite benefits, even if indirect. Type 2 diabetics definitely have less resistance to infection, and healing may take vastly longer, or not occur at all, with some things. Even for those not officially diabetic, I think the evidence is increasing that higher blood sugar and insulin levels have plenty of bad consequences - certain ‘bugs’ and cancers grow faster than when blood sugar is low.

(Brian) #8

I had a very mild “cold” this winter. It’s the first since I started keto a year and a half ago. I say “cold” because it wasn’t anything that I even bothered taking any OTC meds for, didn’t need them.

I also think that having the body in a less inflamed and less stressed (the kind of stress that comes from eating a bunch of crap all the time) state allows for it to have more energy to fight off the crud that goes around. Nothing scientific to back it up, just kind of a general feeling about it. I’ve definitely not noticed the opposite. N=1.

(mole person) #9

I’m nearing two years on keto and have had only a single stomach bug that lasted only a couple of days.

(Duncan Kerridge) #10

I think I’ve had two ‘colds’ since I started keto 2 years ago. Both lasted 24-36 hours and they were gone. They were nothing compared to the week long man-flu I used to get every 3 or 4 months.

(Carl Keller) #11

I’m with @OldDoug on this. Keto is a great foundation for health, in general.

For most of my life, I’ve rarely been sick. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had the flu and it made me miss work or school. In comparison to my sister who rarely ate protein and fat when we were growing up and opposite of how I ate, she was constantly sick with anything and everything that was going around. Of course we both ate junk but I do believe the difference in preferred diet is why we differed so much when it came to illness.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #12

I haven’t been sick and I’ve been babysitting snot nosed kids and around snot nosed adults. I think it’s a combination of many of the things you guys listed above and I’d like to speculate that foreign invaders of our body like to eat sugar and it’s possible that our body isn’t hospitable to bacteria or viruses because pickin’s are slim…??

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #13

I went lite keto 3 1/2 years ago and 6 months strict. The whole time no colds, sinus infections, ear infections and any other illness. Once and a while I be like, I think I’m catching cold and then several hours later all the feelings of a cold coming on are going.

I’m in my 60s and I would get sick 2 to 6 times a year. My doctor says my systemic level of inflammation is down, way down and hence my immune system is not wacky (my term) so it can better fight real diseases.

Most falls I would get a ear infection that would turn to a chest infection and then bronchitis. Nada, none, nope.

Happy Dance. It is well know that BHB ketone is more than an energy source, is is a signalling metabolite that expresses positive genes and down regulates inflammation. Inflamizone especially. Here is one of many papers on the topic:

You don’t need to be in full ketosis for some of the signaling to take place. Isn’t the body a wonder.

(Edith) #14

My husband and I were talking about this just the other day. We’ve been following keto since June 2017 and neither of us has been sick since then. Although, I will admit, we didn’t get sick that much before keto; maybe once a year. But still…