Processed diets, which are low in fiber, may initially reduce the incidence of foodborne infectious diseases such as E. coli infections, but might also increase the incidence of diseases characterized by low-grade chronic infection and inflammation such as diabetes, according to researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University.
This study used mice to investigate how changing from a grain-based diet to a highly processed, high-fat Western style diet impacts infection with the pathogen Citrobacter rodentium, which resembles Escherichia coli (E. coli) infections in humans. The findings are published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.
