Effect of ketogenic diet on the development of experimental asthma

• Grant number: 24/09982-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Cellular Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Denise Morais da Fonseca
• Grantee: Clara Bueno Alves
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/06881-5 - Gut-lung axis: understanding the immune dialogue between barrier tissues in the development of disease, AP.JP2

Abstract

The mucosa-associated immune system is constantly challenged by external factors such as infections, allergen exposure, and dietary changes, which can disrupt its homeostasis. Recently, there has been a rise in the consumption of unbalanced diets like the ketogenic diet, commonly known as "low carb diet", by healthy individuals, which remains poorly explored. Immunological interactions between mucosal tissues, such as the gut-lung axis, suggest that the effects of these disturbances, including the ketogenic diet itself, extend beyond intestinal local effects to lung tissue. This can be mediated by components of the diet, by the microbiota or involving immune system cells and molecules. Our group demonstrated that the consumption of the ketogenic diet led to pulmonary neutrophilia, which exacerbated inflammatory lung diseases, like COVID-19. Given this, we hypothesized that allergic asthma, for being an inflammatory disease, could have your progression altered by ketogenic diet consumption, potentially worsening the allergic response. This study can contribute to a better understanding of the effects of ketogenic diet consumption by healthy individuals in the context of Allergic asthma.