CAN YOUR DIET CONTROL YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM?

[...]the relevance to human health of results from studies of animals and cells isn't clear and has sometimes been exaggerated for commercial gain, feeding scepticism in nutrition science. In April, the New England Journal of Medicine launched a series of review articles on nutrition, immunity and disease, and in January, the US Department of Health and Human Services held its first-ever Food is Medicine summit in Washington DC, which explored links between food insecurity, diet and chronic diseases. [...]Cheng Zhan, a neuroscientist at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, wanted to investigate a group of neuronsin the brainstem that helpsto regulate the immune system, to see whether manipulating them could elicit the desired effect. Zhan also used a mouse model of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis to show that the continuous activation of these neurons significantly alleviated paralysis, prevented disease-related weight loss and increased survival.