Study highlights crucial link between breakfast and immune system

According to a Icahn School of Medicine study on mouse models, fasting tends to make one susceptible to infections, thereby increasing the risk of developing heart disease. Skipping breakfast, the study finds, causes the brain to react in a way that harms immune cells and highlights the cost to fasting, which is otherwise hailed as an evidently healthy practice. This mechanistic study, the first of its kind, delved into key aspects of fundamental biology relevant to fasting and found that a conversation ensues between the nervous and immune systems consequent to fasting.?

The resultant stress response in the brain makes people “hangry” (hungry and angry) which triggers a large-scale migration of white blood cells from the blood to the bone marrow, and then back to the bloodstream shortly after food is reintroduced. The latter creates a surge of monocytes flooding back into the blood, which can cause problems, though, on the plus side, fasting helps reduce the number of circulating monocytes, which is beneficial as the given cells are key components of inflammation. The authors highlight the need to comprehend how their function is controlled to probe deeper into their causative association with diseases like heart disease or cancer.

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