Coincidence or Not?

[Listlad]

Some time ago there was a thread containing material on coughs and colds on a low carb diet.

I just realised I have not been sick once in eighteen months of ketogenic eating. Even while those around me have caught various bugs, I have suffered no colds, no flu. Not even hay fever. Nothing. Not even a headache.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/keto.167555/#post-2119016

At the time I dismissed some of the material posted as mere hype. However the preamble to this is that a few years ago, year on year, I caught a series of coughs colds and splutters that seemed to last an extraordinary length of time. Some 6 weeks or more. I found this very odd and visited my doctor(s) frequently stating that it was strange for me as for most of my life I had often avoided them. So why was I on the receiving end with them now and why the severity. This happened again late last year. Coincidentally my wife was suffering from the same.

This year, for the first time in about 5 years it hasn’t happened........however my wife is trying to shake off another longstanding cough / cold that has been on the go for weeks.

So may be there is something in it or maybe I have just been lucky this year (so far)? She doesn’t eat low carb. I do (well lower than most).

 

[Member496333]

Well personally I don’t believe it’s a coincidence. Certainly not in my case. It’s why I feel that low carb/keto can bring about benefits for humans that reach far beyond optimal glucose regulation. So long as I have a choice, I will not ever revert to the ‘orthodox’ way of eating even if someone could guarantee me that my diabetes would never return. And by orthodox I mean the low-fat fad diet that we invented in 1980

 

[Listlad]

Well, by far my worst spells of coughs and colds in my lifetime all occurred in the last 5 years. And that has also coincided with a less energetic lifestyle and the parallel onset of diabetic symptoms.

I hope I haven’t spoken too soon though. Perpetual coughing and spluttering for 6 weeks was no fun last year or the previous years running up to that.

 

[Listlad]

So just coincidence then? I was hoping not.

 

[jjraak]

Maybe it's the broken window syndrome ?

We accept being just that bit more unfit, a little heavier and more"creaky" with each passing year, that we don't notice the impact foods could have .

Once we start to clean up our act food wise,
We Make the body run a little more smoothly now it isn't damping down or over adjusting to compensate for all the bad elements in our diets .

So maybe now it starts evening out those elements that it's ignored while fighting the. Losing battle with our toxic intake of too much glucose.

For me, my asthma has improved dramatically since I went LCHF.. No attacks or difficulties in over a year... And now you mention it, no colds either... Both a regular occurrence pre diagnosis


So that's a big NO to coincidence , from me

 

[Indy51]

My anecdote: I've been low carb since July 2012 and can't remember the last time I had a cold or flu or having to take an antibiotic for a chest infection. This despite having a lung condition that makes me not only very susceptible to such illnesses, but getting them can cause exacerbations/complications with my lung disease. Even with a recent deterioration in lung function, there was no infection involved. Knock on wood, I continue to remain cold and flu free. So I consider myself very lucky to have found the low carb way of eating!

 

[zand]

No it's not a coincidence. I suffered from coughs and colds for years. When I switched to LCHF things improved which gave me the will and the energy to change other things too. It's hard to look after yourself when you are constantly ill. It's hard to exercise when you fell groggy all the time.

I noticed that diet coke irritated my throat and that I was less prone to sore throats if I didn't have it. More recently I noticed that any diet driink makes my throat tight. I became more fastidious about hand washing particularly after trips to the supermarket after hearing that simple little things like that were what helped the GB cycling team to success. They could train better if they weren't ill.

For me LCHF worked for 2 reasons. I was eating less junk so I didn't get so much inflammation and at the same time my nutrition improved giving me more protection from illness. Supplementing with vit D has been great for my immune system too. But it was LCHF that started the ball rolling so that I became well enough to help myself even more.

 

[Listlad]

Well I hope you guys and girls are right as I am the only one in the family doing LCHF and the only one not to be struck down this time around.

Achooooooo.... (just jesting there with the sneeze)

 

[Brunneria]

I think we are exposed to bugs almost all the time. Door handles. Phones. Lifts, buses, shared offices, cafe tables...

Often we are resistant, sometimes we are not. It could be a particularly virulent bug, or it could be a dip in the immune system, for whatever reason. Certainly uncontrolled blood glucose is one factor, but there are many others, from whether you spend time with plague carriers (such as school age children, or teachers) whether your immune system is compromised by other health conditions, lack of sleep, or whether you are exposed to something you have never built up an immunity towards.

I used to work in an open plan office next to a grandmother who looked after her school age grandchildren regularly. She brought their bugs into the office and then spread them to our cluster of desks. From there, they would spread to the other 80 people on our floor. Aircon, or circulating heat and closed windows in the winter made it a plague hot spot.

Another period of my life I worked with university students, who cultivated Fresher's Flu and shared it generously. Every year. The fun part of that is that students come from all corners of the nation (even the world) bringing their local bugs with them, and mixing them up to besiege even a tip top immune system.

Since I have worked mainly from home, my viruses have reduced in regularity, but my blood glucose control has only improved a little.

I’m happy to agree that steady, controlled blood glucose helps the immune system to act how it should.
Beyond that, there are too many other factors in play.

 

[Member496333]

My understanding is that the improved immunity to illness through low carb is largely due to the reduced exposure to grains, not so much glucose control per se.

 

[Tophat1900]

I take immune suppressants, which puts me in a more vulnerable position. Obviously, the goal for me isn't to greatly improve my immune system, the risk of rejecting transplanted lungs then becomes an issue.

Perhaps, by removing inflammatory foods, the immune system benefits just enough to find a balance. I haven't had a cold or virus for at least 8yrs since going low carb and eventually keto. I do however when in public NOT touch my face at all, I'm very aware of not touching my face. I stay clear of people coughing or who may look to be carrying a cold etc. So, I'm sure that helps, but I can't ignore the impact of going year after year of no colds, while everyone else around me gets sick every year.

Make of it what you will.

 

[lovinglife]

I have no idea - all I know is when I was low carb at 70g a day I never got a cold in many years, I've been keto since January and I am on my 3rd cold - but I'll still stick to keto

 

[Bluetit1802]

I had my first cold and lingering cough for many, many years earlier this year. I was cross because I never get them, so I can't put any of it down to low carb. I really cannot remember the last cold I had before this one. Possibly 30 or more years, and I had a child, then grandchildren, and I worked in a large office. I am really tempting fate saying this.

 

[JohnEGreen]

Just came across this. A cure for the common cold maybe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49682583

 

[JohnEGreen]

And this.
Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Link between Diet and DNA Methylation

"It is well known that nutrition has an indisputable influence on the epigenome. A great number of studies showed the changes in DNA methylation in specific genes, tissues, hormones, and cell lines after applying different diets [59,60,61,63,75]. These findings raise important questions about the diet-induced epigenetic pathways, such as: ‘What are the underlying regulatory pathways causing hypomethylation or hypermethylation?"


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6320837/

Not sure if it has any bearing on this discussion or not.

 

[Hotpepper20000]

My understanding is that the improved immunity to illness through low carb is largely due to the reduced exposure to grains, not so much glucose control per se.

I would interested in reading more about this. Do you have links I could read?

 

[Listlad]

It’s over 2 weeks since I started this thread. I kept quiet just in case the whole thing came back to bite me in the derrière. However whilst Mrs Listlad and Miss Listlad coughed and spluttered for two weeks more (they are just over it now) I miraculously got away with neglible symptoms completely.

 

[JohnEGreen]

My wife caught a cold then my daughter then me colds gone but unfortunately every cold I get is always followed by bronchitis.

Because of MG and prednisolone if I have any sort of infection I am supposed to present myself either at my doctors or A&E but I resist that as they may over react and admit me and I would then be stuck in hospital for possibly weeks so I try and ride it out.

This was the first cold since being low carb I think.

 

[Listlad]

My wife caught a cold then my daughter then me colds gone but unfortunately every cold I get is always followed by bronchitis.

Because of MG and prednisolone if I have any sort of infection I am supposed to present myself either at my doctors or A&E but I resist that as they may over react and admit me and I would then be stuck in hospital for possibly weeks so I try and ride it out.

This was the first cold since being low carb I think.

Well the last heavy cold I had, about 10/11 months ago went to my chest. So it has been nice not to get clobbered with it this time around.

 

[Listlad]

September 15th was when I first started this thread and am still coughing and cold free for almost a year now. My wife has had several in that time. This completely bucks the trend of the previous 4 years or so, but coincides with starting lchf a year ago or thereabouts.