•Fasting metabolism is protective in bacterial, but not viral, inflammationTime to update the old saying:
•Ketone bodies limit neuronal damage during bacterial inflammation
•Glucose utilization prevents neuronal damage during viral inflammation
It's now "Feed a Virus, Starve a Bacterium".
Heh.
Update: Here's a much better article.
What you eat when you’re sick may determine if you’ll get better
The findings may help explain the ancient adage that it’s best to feed a cold, but starve a fever. Colds are usually caused by viruses, while fevers would traditionally have been more likely to be down to a bacterial infection. Most diets were historically heavy on carbohydrates, which release glucose in our bodies.
The discovery may also save lives. Sepsis – a severe systemic inflammation of the body that often occurs in response to an infection – kills around a third of those who develop it. Efforts to fight sepsis with fasting or feeding have yielded no clear results. That could be because so far, none of these studies distinguished or recorded whether patients had bacterial or viral sepsis.
Uh huh. Go figure. You don't say.
