Feeling under the weather? If you are coming down with flu, noshing on superfoods might just be the thing you need to recover from sickness, no meds needed.
A new study found a connection between gut microbes and immunity. By processing the flavonoids in superfoods such as berries, gut microbes strengthen the immune system, promoting faster healing and shorter recovery from influenza.
Specific gut microbes found to prevent influenza by “digesting” flavonoids found in superfoods
(Natural News) Scientists behind the latest nutritional review on gut microbiomes and flavonoids call their results “intriguing” after observing an unusual connection between the two. The description was made after observing that a specific gut microbe directly influenced how naturally-occurring compounds called flavonoids impacted our immune system. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine are now suggesting that understanding this mechanism could prevent severe flu infections better than vaccines. Flavonoids are found in foods such as black tea, blueberries, and red wine.
The conclusions of this study, published in Science, indicate that the function of gut microbiomes extend far beyond just digesting our food. Using mice models, scientists revealed that immune response was not only dependent on a flavonoid-rich diet, but whether the body also contained particular gut microbes. This could explain why people tend to have varied responses to infection. Curiously, this mechanism did not prevent the mice from contracting the disease, but the microbiome-flavonoid relationship boosted the immune system and prevented the disease from harming lung tissue.
Image courtesy of: Heather Ogg Photography
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