How fast food affects the immune system German scientists have identified a pattern between unhealthy food and inflammation

The University of Bonn conducted a study according to which fast food weakens the body's immune system.

The effect persists for a long time even after a complete rejection of harmful foods and the transition to healthy foods. Scientists have found that inflammation develops faster after eating junk food. This, in turn, can lead to strokes, heart attacks, vascular disease, arteriosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes.

All of this was revealed in an experiment when mice were put on a diet high in fat and sugar and low in dietary fiber. As a result, the animals developed inflammation throughout the body, which happens when infected with dangerous bacteria.

Among other things, the genes responsible for reproduction are affected by high-fat and high-calorie nutrition. Even when the mice were fed the special grain for four weeks and the acute inflammation subsided, many of the genes activated by eating fast food were still working in the cells of the immune system.

The reason for this is the fast food sensor in the cells of the immune system. The innate immune system is known to have memory. «After infection, the body's defense systems remain in alarm to be able to respond more quickly to a new attack,» explains a university employee. In mice, this process was not caused by bacteria, but by unhealthy diets, experts say.