Skip to main content

High-fat-diet may cause you more risks of autoimmune diseases

We've been long aware about the possible harm that high-fat-diet could do for our cardiovascular system. Taking greasy fries out of our meals is a way to help us stay away from heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, but it may sound unusual to associate it to doing any good to our immune system. Recent studies suggested that high fat diet could cause more severe diseases in autoimmune diseases.

The study published in Immunity (Haghikia and Jo¨rg et al. ) studied the role of two types of fatty acids, short-chain and long-chain fatty acid, on autoimmune diseases. Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) role are solely metabolized by gut bacteria from otherwise indigestible carbohydrates (e.g. dietary fiber); on the other hand, long-chain FAs (LCFAs) come from regular dietary fat. They kept mice that had neural autoimmune disease (autoimmune encephalomyelitis/EAE) with food enriched with SCFAs, LCFAs or control food to compare disease progression. As a result, mice treated with LCFAs suffered more severe autoimmune symptoms compared to control mice, while mice taking SCFAs showed better clinical outcomes.

In fact, LCFAs and SCFAs in the mice's diet shifted the balance between two types of immune cells in the gut, pro-inflammatory immune cells (i.e. Th1 and Th17) and inhibitory immune cells (i.e. Treg). LCFAs can potentiate the functions of Th1/17, while SCFAs can promote Treg development and activities ex vivo and in the gut of mouse. Such pro vs. anti-inflammatory fluctuation affect the immune cell dynamics in the spinal cord as the cells infiltrate at the inflammatory sites, rendering a more severe or ameliorated disease course.

It always confuses me so much when all different dieting trends come along on the internet and brand themselves as the ultimate. I'm not yet sold to any one of them, probably only because I'm too much of a foodie to give up all meat/egg/dairies/beans/carb/etc... in my meals. However, I do have more motivation now to cut down dietary fat and to replace with more fibers.







Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Normal skin carry ONCOGENIC MUTATIONS- from the standpoint of cancer evolution

We have been long conceived that cancer cells are formed from developing oncogenic mutations during proliferation. On the other hand, it is very natural to think that normal tissue cells should have no or maybe very few (just to make it not too absolute) mutations. However, the latest Science paper by Martincorena et al . suggests that normal skin tissues do carry oncogenic mutations, in an amount that may be higher than you thought. The group of scientists collected 234 biopsies of normal eyelid skin tissues from 4 individuals and sequenced 74 known cancer genes in them. What they've found is that the mutation rate of these genes in the sequenced skin tissues is actually as high as in many type of cancer tissues! It is comparable to the mutation rates of breast cancer and is only a factor of 10 less than that in a type of skin carcinoma! How do healthy people, including us, have so many mutations in normal skin tissues? The answer is: sunlight. The study looked into specific ...

Farewell to the cell biology giant: in memory of Alan Hall

I was so shocked to hear the sudden death of Dr. Alan Hall, the chair of Cell Biology Program of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and a truly great scientist. It was such an unexpected heart attack that left everyone in a great sorrow this week. Alan is such a fantastic scientist that has made tremendous contribution to the field of cell biology, cytoskeleton( bone structure of a cell) in particular. He is also a kind and inspiring mentor in our mind... The institute had a rather short memorial this Thursday and we will be having a more formal one later when his family get back from UK (his hometown).  Even to people outside the cytoskeleton field, the contribution that Dr. Hall has made is so important that it provides basis of many of the discoveries that were made in the past 20 years. The cytoskeleton, as the supporting structure of cells, functions to maintain the shape and motion of cells. As such dynamic structure, the mechanisms of it has always been i...

I'm allergic to my sunscreen- and how I found that out

For one time I was very into studies on skin cancer, especially melanoma. They are among the most responsive cancer types to immunotherapies because they carry distinctive antigens for immune system to recognize (the first thing that drew me into the subject). They are highly-associated with UV light; the association is also determined by individual genetic background. As asian, for example, I never worried too much about being sun-sensitive or getting skin cancer from a little bit too much sun bath. (Sidenote: my previous post touched upon some related mechanisms. ) However, "my whole world"/my skin changed since this past September- I've been constantly experiencing rashes, swell, and flaking on my face. That was really abnormal to me because my skin was never sensitive. For as long as 2 months, I had 4 reactions in total, and each time it got worse! That was how my story began- How I finally figured out my "photo-allergy" to my sunscreen. Stage 1: Im...