Fast Food Might Have A Prolonged Effect On Your Immune System

Here’s yet another reason to reduce fast food and rely on healthier foods because a study has recently found that the effects don’t wear off so soon. No, we’re not talking about belly fat but your immune system which becomes aggressive even after you quit eating junk.

Aggressive Immune System

The study conducted by the scientists at University of Bonn observed through mice that the immune system reacts to a high-fat and high calorie diet such as a cheeseburger as it would when you develop a bacterial infection. Even if a person switches to a healthy diet the effect remains and becomes even more pronounced.

“The unhealthy diet led to an unexpected increase in the number of certain immune cells in the blood of the mice, especially granulocytes and monocytes,” said Anette Christ, postdoctoral fellow at University of Bonn. “This was an indication for an involvement of immune cell progenitors in the bone marrow.”

Towards the end of the study, the mice were given their regular cereals to eat for four weeks thanks to which the inflammation went away. But many genes that reacted to the fast food were still active.