Influence of the ketogenic diet in the gut-lung axis
The diet composition influences the communication between the gut and lungs, and some studies showed that the ingestion of a high fiber diet has anti-inflammatory effects in asthma and low levels of carbohydrate/ketogenic diet protect against influenza. However, it is unclear the safety of the ketogenic diet in the gut-lung axis. Therefore, this study aims to understand how the gut-associated immune system responds to the ketogenic diet and its impact on lung immunity. After four weeks of treatment, the ketogenic diet reduced the weight gain, compared to mice fed with a regular diet. Moreover, the ketogenic diet treatment increased the frequency of neutrophils and IL-17 produced by TCRγδ T cells in the duodenum, compared to mice fed a regular diet. Also, the ketogenic diet increased the perivascular cells infiltrate in the lungs, compared to mice fed with a regular diet. In addition, the ketogenic diet treatment in allergic mice increased leukocytes infiltration, eosinophils, but reduced neutrophils frequency, compared to mice fed with a regular diet. Therefore, we believe that these results may open new perspectives not only for understanding the mechanisms that support immune-homeostasis in the gut but also to shed some light on the long-term consequences of the indiscriminate usage of unbalanced diets in the lung immunity.