Today (November 17, 2022) Dr. Anan Chongkaewwatana, Director of Animal Health Innovation and Management Research Group The National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotech) reveals via personal Facebook about people infected with COVID. Many people suffer from anorexia and an inability to eat. In fact, this condition is a natural response to infection. which may be good for the body The study was published in the journal Nature last July. From a research team in Germany found that The body responds to infection with anorexia. It changes the body’s energy system from using sugar. to generate energy It is the use of energy reserves in the liver instead.
The energy reserve is the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), which the body converts from fatty acids in the liver to use as an energy source. In a state of fasting or carbohydrate-free food sources, such as the keto diet. that some of you may prefer to eat to control weight
The research team found People with severe COVID symptoms produce less BHB in their bodies than usual. The energy source of those patients depends on sugar. or mainly carbohydrates But the condition of COVID infection causing abnormal sugar metabolism in these patients Especially in T cell white blood cells that should receive essential amino acids from the aforementioned energy sources to create proteins to deal with the infection. or increase their own numbers to be ready in an infectious state The research team found COVID patients have insufficiently functioning T cells, which can directly contribute to severe COVID symptoms. Simply put, T cells are out of balance by using carbohydrates as an energy source.
The team found that instead of using sugar as an energy source, the body uses BHB, a mechanism that metabolizes BHB to increase the production of amino acids. It increases the efficiency of T cell performance, able to clear the virus from the body more quickly. The research team found Feeding a keto diet to infected young mice It was able to help the mice resist infection better than the experimental group, suggesting that BHB may have antiviral properties.
The research team concluded that BHB could be one of the important targets that could be considered to help treat COVID patients. especially those with severe symptoms For those who have anorexia and do not want to eat anything It may be a mechanism by which the body wants to take advantage of the accumulated BHB, or if eating a low carb diet during recovery may help recover faster.