Study Supports Feeding
Colds, Starving Fevers

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - ``Feed a cold, starve a fever'' may be sound advice for the immune system, according to researchers from the Netherlands. After noticing differences in immune system response after a meal in an unrelated study, Gijs Van Den Brink and associates from Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, wondered if the immune system, in fact, responded differently to feeding and starving.

To answer the question, they measured immune cell production of IFN-gamma (a measure of virus-fighting prowess) and IL-4 (a marker of bacteria-killing power) during fasting and after a liquid meal containing as many calories as a Big Mac and fries.

Six hours after the meal, anti-virus IFN-gamma production rose 4.5-fold, the researchers reported. After overnight fasting, though, IFN-gamma production fell to 83% of its usual level.

In contrast, food intake resulted in only a 42% increase in IL-4 production, the results indicated, whereas fasting brought nearly a fourfold rise in bacteria-fighting IL-4 levels.

The authors concluded that significant calorie intake favored the type of immune response needed to fight cold viruses, whereas fasting boosted the kind of immune response required for fever-causing bacterial infections.

``It is important to realize that our findings are interesting but still very preliminary and have no implications yet for the people at home,'' Van Den Brink told Reuters Health. ''It may serve as an example however that although everybody realizes that one should eat well, food may not get the attention it deserves from people in basic research.

``There's a lot we still do not know about the way food modulates not only our immune system but other systems as well,'' Van Den Brink concluded.

The findings are scheduled to be presented Wednesday at Digestive Disease Week in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reference Source 89

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