14/03/2022
FAST FOOD AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM - THE BODY IS AGAINST!
Along with the Kremlin, Mediterranean, Russian, Japanese and other diets, another one appeared in the early 2000s, eventually called "Western".
Moreover, unlike the others, thoughtful and aimed at fighting extra pounds, the "western" arose spontaneously, from an overabundance of new dishes and human immoderation in food. Simply put, this is the name of a diet consisting entirely or mostly of fast food.
We all have a snack from time to time with this, albeit harmful, but such delicious food. After all, it's fast, convenient and both children and adults like it. And it seems that nothing will happen from one slice of pizza, one French fries, one hamburger. Well, or from two.
the harm of fast food
And even after a week of such a "diet", the maximum that threatens us is a couple of extra pounds that you can always lose, right? But being overweight is not the worst consequences of a love of fast food, scientists say.
DEADLY HAMBURGERS
Thus, the reaction of the immune system to the "Western diet" is similar to how it reacts to infection with dangerous bacteria. This conclusion was reached by researchers from the University of Bonn (Germany), who shared the results of their new study, publishing them in the journal Cell.
Another disturbing fact mentioned in this article is the conclusion that in the long term, the "Western diet" can make the immune system hypersensitive to inflammatory reactions. The team of researchers discovered that a protein called cryopyrin (NLRP3) is a sensor of the immune system that recognizes fast food as a pathogen (the element causing the disease) and, therefore, triggers an inflammatory reaction.
In addition, it turned out that the fast food diet also damages the envelope of genetic material, exposing parts of DNA. Therefore, the immune system reacts with strong inflammatory reactions even to weak stimuli.
According to the results of the study, even switching to a healthy diet after prolonged and regular use of fast food will not allow the state of health to recover to "factory settings": long-term changes caused by the use of fast food can contribute to the occurrence of type 2 diabetes, arteriosclerosis and some other conditions associated with the "Western diet" and the inflammation provoked by it.
Korshun Elena Igorevna
KORSHUN Elena Igorevna
Head of the Department of Functional Longevity of the Gerontology Research Medical Center, international expert in the field of anti-aging technologies
Atherosclerosis and diabetes mellitus are always accompanied by obesity and metabolic syndrome, and, according to many scientists, this type of obesity is the most difficult to correct.
It is necessary to focus attention on the fact that with the "Western diet" there is a development or aggravation of arterial hypertension.
A large amount of salt and spices added to sauces lead to the fact that blood pressure is difficult to control. Not to mention the aggravation of the condition of patients with cardiac arrhythmias. All this leads to the rapid development of chronic heart failure.
It is also important that this type of nutrition contributes to the formation of kidney stones, disrupts the functions of the liver and pancreas. This all leads to disruption of the work of these organs, but, in addition, it also leads to an exacerbation of autoimmune diseases, for example, rheumatoid arthritis.
A large amount of fats and oils contained in fast food products provokes the formation of cholesterol plaques, which affects not only the cardiovascular system, but also causes strokes, memory disorders, attention and other cognitive functions.
DIET AND GENES
As part of the study, scientists put mice susceptible to atherosclerosis on a "Western diet" that includes high-calorie, high-fat, low-carbohydrate fast food products.
After just one month, the mice showed changes throughout the body that resembled severe inflammatory reactions that usually occur with bacterial infections.
"Such an unhealthy diet led to an unexpected increase in the number of certain immune cells in the blood of mice, in particular, granulocytes and monocytes," said lead author of the study Anette Christ, an honorary fellow at the University of Bonn.
This prompted the team to investigate what is happening in the bone marrow, where the precursor cells of the aforementioned immune cells are located. Scientists compared these progenitor cells in mice on the "Western diet" with their counterparts in control mice that ate standard healthy food.
They found that the "Western diet" activated several genes in progenitor cells, including those that increase proliferation (the process of cell reproduction, multiplying tissue volume) and enhance responses from the innate immune system. It, in turn, immediately reacts to an infection or a foreign substance, followed by a more powerful reaction from the adaptive immune system.
PROPER NUTRITION WILL NOT HELP
The acute inflammatory reaction in the mice on the "Western diet" subsided after they were transferred to their usual grain diet and lasted on it for 4 weeks.
what is the harm of fast food
However, the return to a healthy diet still could not undo the fundamental changes in the innate immune system, and many of the genes that were activated by the "Western diet" remained active.
"In a recent study, we found out that the innate immune system has its own memory," said senior author of the study, Professor Eike Latz, director of the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University of Bonn.
According to the professor, there is a process called "innate immune training", which is usually caused by a bacterial infection, but in the case of experimental subjects it was provoked by the "Western diet", adds Professor Lutz.
