The ketogenic diet has become a popular way to shed unwanted pounds and a recent study reveals it can also fight off the flu.

Researchers fed mice infected with the influenza virus a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, which resulted in a higher survival rate than compared to those on a normal high-carbohydrate diet.

The team found the ketogenic diet, or keto for short, triggered the release immune system cells that produce mucus in the cell linings of the lung and trapped the virus before it became worse.

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Researchers fed mice infected with the influenza virus a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, which resulted in a higher survival rate than compared to those on a normal high-carbohydrate diet

Keto includes a menu of meat, fish, poultry and non-starchy vegetables.

This diet is said to share many similarities with the Atkins diet, as it involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat.

Experts have now determined it may be a way to tame the flu, as it was found to activate a subset of T cells in the lungs not previously associated with the immune system's response to influenza, enhancing mucus production from airway cells that can effectively trap the virus, the researchers reported.

The study was conducted at Yale University by two trainees and a lead scientist.

The team found the ketogenic diet, or keto for short, triggered the release immune system cells that produce mucus in the cell linings of the lung -while the high-carbohydrate diet did not

The two trainees are, Ryan Molony who found that immune system activators called inflammasomes can cause harmful immune system responses in their host, and Emily Goldberg who worked in Dixit's lab, which had shown that the ketogenic diet blocked formation of inflammasomes.

Co-senior author Akiko Iwasaki, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute said the findings were 'totally unexpected'.

'This study shows that the way the body burns fat to produce ketone bodies from the food we eat can fuel the immune system to fight flu infection, Dixit explained.

WHAT IS THE KETO DIET? The Ketogenic diet defines a low-carb, high-fat way of eating. Following this eating plan forces the body into a metabolic state, known as ketosis, which starves the body of carbohydrates but not calories. Carbs are shunned in the keto diet as they cause the body to produce glucose, which is used as energy over fat. Keto diets therefore lead to weight loss as they make the body burn fat as its primary energy source. On the diet, followers can eat: Meat

Leafy greens and most vegetables

Full-fat dairy

Nuts and seeds

Avocadoes and berries

Fats, such as coconut oil People cannot eat: Grains, including rice and wheat

Sugar, like honey and maple syrup

Most fruit

White or sweet potatoes Advertisement

During the study, the team showed that mice infected with the flu virus that were fed the keto diet had a higher survival rate than mice on a high-carb normal diet.

The researchers were more excited to find the details behind this event.

The keto diet actually triggered the release of gamma delta T cells, immune system cells that produce mucus in the cell linings of the lung -while the high-carbohydrate diet did not.

When mice were bred without the gene that codes for gamma delta T cells, the ketogenic diet provided no protection against the influenza virus.