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Occasional fasting can protect you from a viral infection, or at least ensure symptoms are mild.
Reducing your calorie intake changes the gut microbiome—the universe of bacteria—and this makes any infection far less virulent, say researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada.
A 48-hour fast before and during infection from the Salmonella bug, one of the most common causes of food poisoning, reduces intestinal tissue damage and inflammation, the researchers discovered. But the usual symptoms returned when normal eating started again.
Fasting seems to deprive the virus of the energy it needs to fully infect the host, the researchers say.
Their research has so far been limited to tests on laboratory mice, and so the same effects may not be seen in people, they warn.
(Source: PLOS Pathogens, 2021; 17: e1009719)
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