Immune Health
Good Antibodies, Bad Antibodies
Why the immune system requires balance and how fasting-mimicking diets can help reduce autoimmune cells.
Immune Health
Why the immune system requires balance and how fasting-mimicking diets can help reduce autoimmune cells.
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Many things in life have two sides. It makes sense, really, because qualities that work well in one context can be completely destructive in another. So nature, or evolution, always has to strike a balance.
When it comes to the immune system, it's clear that we need an aggressive, alert immune system to avoid getting sick, or at least not to get sick often. At the same time, it shouldn't be too "strong," because it needs a certain level of tolerance. Nobody needs a hyperactive, super-destructive immune system that potentially attacks and destroys the body's own structures (autoimmunity).
The body, however, is prepared. It has developed a sophisticated system not only to massively amplify immune reactions but also to cleverly brake them—and there are strong control systems in the body that filter out immune cells and antibodies that are directed against the body's own structures. In theory, it seems like a safe system.
Unfortunately, even the most perfect system is usually not flawless. Many of us know this because many people show a certain level of autoimmunity. Others can't eat an apple. Still others come down with the flu five times a year. Let's focus on autoimmunity. It's enormously complex. The fact is: antibodies and immune cells have to overcome the body's tolerance to its own tissues. That's not easy, but it can happen. As a result, the body believes that its own structures are the enemy.
Examples of such diseases include…
A recent study of just 30 COVID patients showed that severely overweight people infected with COVID simply don't produce neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. In contrast, researchers observed that they produced more so-called autoantibodies—antibodies directed against the body's own structures. To be fair, it should be noted that this has also been observed in non-overweight COVID patients, and other studies have come to different conclusions. In any case, the current study states:
«During the current pandemic, it has been shown that serum samples from adult COVID-19 patients contain antibodies directed against the infected patients' own tissues, rather than against the disease-causing virus.»
Fortunately, there is hope. Not just for COVID patients who now carry a few autoantibodies around, but also for people who generally have autoimmune issues. The hope comes from Valter Longo, essentially a renowned aging researcher. Five years ago, he demonstrated that the immune system can be reprogrammed through clever manipulation of nutrition.
Put simply, it comes down to two cellular energy sensors: mTOR and AMPK. mTOR becomes active during nutrient abundance, while AMPK activates during caloric or energy deficiency in cells. Longo shows that through intermittent fasting or fasting-mimicking diets (low calories, low protein for specific time periods), you can suppress mTOR and activate AMPK. This kills certain T cells that attack the body's own tissues. Conversely, new immune cells become active—so-called Treg cells—which restore tolerance to the body's tissues.
To put it concretely: through nutrition, you can activate a self-cleaning process that allows the immune system to heal and reprogram itself. Essentially, it means that the body can continuously renew itself if you just let it. Autoimmunity doesn't have to be permanent. You can actually make autoimmune cells die off.
But be careful: the study explicitly states that «it is the cycle of fasting and refeeding, not the fasting cycles alone, that promotes the regeneration and replacement of autoimmune cells with naive cells.» Therefore, chronic fasting, extreme calorie restriction, or chronic application of a ketogenic diet (!!!) is not effective, or far less effective. It's really about cycles. And in our Western lifestyle, these cycles are often drastically distorted—shifted in the wrong direction.
Once again, we've learned that lifestyle is more powerful than we think. PS: Still don't know what AMPK and mTOR are? Then it's time to read our book.
