Coincidence or Not?

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

Jim Lahey said:

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.

Click to expand...

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

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.