Nutrition fads are nothing new, and these days, the ketogenic diet (or keto, for short) is all the rage.
In recent years, celebrities from Kourtney Kardashian to LeBron James have turned to the high-fat, low-carb approach for its reported health benefits — like weight loss and lower blood-sugar levels. And while the keto diet has been used in medicine to treat epilepsy in children for almost a century, some scientists and nutritionists have voiced concerns about its potential nutritional shortcomings.
But recent research suggests that there may be additional benefits of the trendy diet still being discovered. In a study published last week in the journal Science Immunology, researchers reported that feeding mice a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet helped shield the critters against influenza infection.
The influenza A virus, commonly called the flu, is a viral infection that targets the respiratory system — the nose, throat and sometimes the lungs. ...
