https://news.yale.edu/2019/11/15/ke...-tame-flu-virus

Mice fed a ketogenic diet were better able to combat the flu virus than mice fed food high in carbohydrates, according to a new Yale University study published Nov. 15 in the journal Science Immunology.

I have had one cold since went keto - and I went keto in the original atkins - induction forever.

The cold I had I caught on a plane and it consisted of one day of running nose and one day of coughing. That's it.

The last time I got sick at all must be +15 years ago, another slight cold.

Bob

Since I have school age teens, my thoughts jumped to: feed the youngsters better, much better at 5,6,7 years old and drop the sickness rates dramatucally.

My teen do get sick now and then, but never miss school since 7-8th grade.

I haven't had a full-blown cold since 2011, and stress was a factor because I was about to go through a break-up and move after a decade-long relationship.

I had a sinus infection after DH and I moved into our house together, again stress and not having a functioning kitchen (ie not-ideal food) was probably the bigger factor.

DH had full-blown influenza (fever and all) about 5 years ago at Christmas time, and I didn't get it... and I admittedly wasn't even all that good with the hand-washing, etc. I was in the house and bed with him virtually 24/7, because I was off work. Not even a hint of getting sick myself.

Just another advantage of this WOE.

Going keto remitted my rapidly worsening autoimmune conditions. Now, a system of thyroid support, B vitamins, and concentrating on sleep has kicked me into a new level of healing. A couple of places where years ago I had an infection are making a fuss, then healing, all over again.

Which strongly suggests they hadn't really healed the first time.

We threw a party for our daughter recently. A week later we knew we had picked up a bug, probably at the party. We had a couple days of sniffles and that’s all.

I used to get bad colds often. Used to. I don’t know if it’s LC or being wheat free, maybe both.

The last time I got sick was winter of 2007, our area gets 300K snowbirds every winter... one of them must have brought something! (It was an unmerciful flu that had me on my knees, in front of the toilet)

And before that, 2002. Got a horrible cold from someone sitting behind me gagging and coughing, on a flight.

That’s it.
I can’t remember anything before the one in 2002.
But I’ve been eating this way for 4+ decades.

I don't know how much going LC has helped me fight off colds and flu, since I don't recall ever having flu before (I'm talking about the respiratory illness, the reason THEY encourage everyone to get a flu shot, as opposed to what people refer to as stomach flu - that's a different illness).

However, I will say that working in a grocery store for 7-1/2 years (I'd been LC for a few years before I started working there), I really didn't catch nearly as many colds as I expected. When I first started there, I was working as a cashier on a regular register, and it seemed like every other customer who came through my line would be coughing and sneezing in my face. I caught a few colds during that initial year working there.

Once I was moved over to the position of self scan attendant, I caught even fewer colds, probably due to less customer contact. Still, every time a customer bought cold medicine, I had to go over and stand right next to them to check their ID (you must provide proof of age to purchase anything with ingredients commonly used in cold meds), while they coughed and sneezed all over me. Cold and flu season seemed to last all year long, and it was so busy at that store that there was no time to use hand sanitizer in between customers, not that it would make any difference, since they were coughing right in my face.

Under those conditions, you'd think I would have had colds constantly, but I only ended up with a cold a couple times each year.

Remember that time when Paul Jaminet blurted out that we needed glucose/carbohydrate in the diet because glucose was needed to produce glycoproteins, needed for production of things like mucus, and we were all going to be deficient, develop leaky gut and maybe stomach cancer (he started this line of "research" after somebody blurted out in the comment section on the Hyperlipid blog that someone on the Optimal Diet in Poland had developed stomach cancer, to explain this one-person plague. Enormous, pointless disservice to our community and people who'd be better off in our community. Hipster doofuses of the paleo world were wandering around claiming dry, itchy eyes and other purported signs of glucose/glycoprotein deficiency after trying a ketogenic diet. Anyways, remember that?

I do. And we are all withered husks now!

Makes sense - keto seems to boost (or at least not weaken) my immune system. If I slip up and eat non-keto, even for an afternoon, I'm likely to get whatever is going around. Which I did a week ago. Been paying the price since then.

Oh, yeah. Brings back memories. Never mind that our bodies make all the carbs we need if we don't eat any. Everyone else in the house caught an upper respiratory virus, and (knock on wood) I haven't thus far. We'll see...

This sounds like me and gluten. Just a half piece of bread brought on at least a half-dozen nasty symptoms (e.g., arthritis, migraine...) for days. It’s amazing the damage it can do. And I don’t have celiac.