To treat some diseases, researchers are putting immune cells on a diet
Actually looks rather more like trying to put keto in a pill, but interesting to those with auto-immune issues, and a good breakdown of the science.
On metabolism and the immune system
My biggest issue with this is that for auto-immune diseases we assume that the immune cells are reacting to nothing, or reacting inappropriately to something. Perhaps sometimes that is true - I honestly don’t know.
My question is, what if they are reacting appropriately to some damage we don’t know the source of yet?
I believe people with IBS, crohns, etc sometimes have success with a ketogenic diet. Wouldn’t that imply there’s a possibility that the immune cells are reacting to something in the diet and causing issues - or something else we haven’t considered?
If so, what would happen if we essentially cripple a totally appropriate immune response we don’t fully understand?
That’s the sort of things I think about.
I’ve seen plenty of cases of assuming the body is dysfunctional when it turns out to be functioning just fine. The environment turns out to be the problem.
I’d agree, going keto often involves giving up a lot of processed food, likely the cause of immune responses and consequent chronic inflammation. I was being a bit cynical about keto in a pill, but targeting the metabolic responses of the immune system is likely to be better than outright suppressing it (which current drugs do, and things like metformin not so much)
I thought it was also interesting that activated T cells have increased glucose consumption, while the regulatory T cells, that down regulate inflammation, are fond of fatty acids.