Voeding beïnvloedt het immuunsysteem.*

De laatste dertig jaar zijn de eetgewoontes in de westerse wereld nogal veranderd. We zijn steeds meer vet(zuren) gaan eten zowel door fastfood als kant en klare voeding. Ook kwamen er in dezelfde periode meer ontstekingsziektes, zoals astma, aderverkalking en autoimmuunziektes als reumatische artritis (RA) voor. Australische wetenschappers hebben nu een verband gevonden tussen bepaalde vetzuren en het immuunsysteem. Bepaalde witte bloedcellen, dendritische cellen die het immuunsysteem activeren, hebben bepaalde gezonde vetzuren nodig om goed te kunnen functioneren.

More Evidence that Diet Affects the Immune System

A new study, as reported in Medical News Today, online, is one step closer to finding the connection between dietary fat consumption and inflammation. The researchers from Garvan Institute’s Immunology Program in Sydney, Australia, hope that this could provide answers to the connection between metabolism and immune responses. The scientists noted that our dietary habits in the western world have changed over the last 30 years or more, including an increase in the consumption of fats (fatty acids) from fast food and pre-prepared foods, and there has likewise been an increase in the incidence of inflammatory diseases, especially asthma, atherosclerosis, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

The researchers found that dendritic cells (a type of white blood cells that initiate immune responses), rely on the fatty acid binding molecule aP2 in order to function. They believe that various fatty acids or their total levels will affect aP2 function in dendritic cells—therefore affecting the body’s immune response. Over-activation of dendritic cells can trigger inflammatory diseases, and this study shows that aP2 is key to that process. Scientists are already targeting fatty acid binding molecules, such as aP2, for research related to the treatment of metabolic disorders such as Type-2 diabetes and atherosclerosis. This new study suggests that medicines directed at aP2 would have great potential for inflammatory diseases like RA, as well as metabolic diseases. The authors concluded that future research should focus on whether the total levels of fats or certain types of fats alter dendritic cell function through their binding to aP2. They believe that this link to diet may help explain the increase in inflammatory diseases over the last few decades.

Source:
Regulation of Dendritic Cell Function and T Cell Priming by the Fatty Acid-Binding Protein aP2
Michael S. Rolph, Timothy R. Young, Bennett O. V. Shum, Cem Z. Gorgun, Carsten Schmitz-Peiffer, Ian A. Ramshaw, Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, and Charles R. Mackay
J Immunol 2006 177: 7794-7801.

This research is published online in the December  2006 edition of the Journal of Immunology (Dec. 2006) (Opm. Meer over gezonde vetten.)