Our food choices could play an important, short-term role in how our bodies respond to infections, new research suggests. “Starve a cold, feed a fever” is a myth—but according to new research, the timing of when we eat in the short term may play a role in how our bodies fight off infections.
Researchers analyzed blood samples taken before breakfast from 31 study participants and then taken again six hours later, after the participants had eaten breakfast and lunch. The researchers found that their T cells—a type of immune cell—in the postlunch blood draws appeared better prepared to fight off infection than their T cells upon waking—in other words, after not eating anything for hours.