Black tea, red wine and blueberries protect against real flu viruses

Physicians are studying the effects of flavonoids on the flu
Researchers have now found that combining black tea, red wine and blueberries can reduce or even prevent the effects of a flu infection. Intake of flavonoids, even before the onset of influenza, may limit the symptoms. The results of the study also offer a possible explanation for the different human responses to influenza infection.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine found in their study that compounds in some foods prevent negative effects of the flu in mice. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "Science".

In the course of life, most people get flu several times. Experts have now discovered that the consumption of certain foods can protect against the negative effects of the flu. For example, damage to the lungs is prevented. (Image: auremar / fotolia.com)

Which intestinal microbes protect against flu?
Previous studies indicated that the so-called intestinal microbiota (intestinal flora) plays an important role in the protection against severe influenza infections. In their recent research, scientists sought to identify which intestinal microbes could provide such protection.

Can Clostridium orbiscinden provide protection against influenza?
The researchers studied the intestinal flora for microbes that metabolize flavonoids. The experts were actually able to find such a bacterium, from which they expected a protective effect against influenza diseases. Clostridium orbiscinden influences the flavonoids that produce these metabolites, which then amplify the so-called interferon signaling, the scientists explain.

Flavonoids protect against infections and regulate the immune system
It has been believed for years that flavonoids have protective properties that help regulate the immune system and are effective in controlling infections, explains author Ashley Steed. Flavonoids are a normal part of our diet, which implies that flavonoids work with gut microbes to protect people from the flu and other viral infections. Of course, we still have much to learn about this topic, but the results so far are fascinating, adds the author.

Desaminotyrosine can protect the lungs from damage
The metabolite called desaminotyrosine is also known by the abbreviation DAT. When mice received DAT and were then infected with influenza, these mice had much less damage to the lungs compared to mice without treatment with DAT, explains author Thaddeus Stappenbeck.

Lung damage causes severe complications in humans
It's not just a diet rich in flavonoids. The results of the investigation show that it also needs the right microbes in the intestine, which can control the immune response by using the flavonoids, say the experts. We were able to identify at least one type of bacteria that uses these compounds from food to boost interferon, the researchers said. This signaling molecule supports the immune response. Therefore, the influenza-related lung damage is prevented in the mice. Just such a type of damage often causes significant complications (such as pneumonia) in humans.

DAT treated mice have less damage to the lungs
The lungs of the DAT-treated mice did not show as much influenza damage compared to untreated mice, although the viral infections were identical. What microbes and DAT could not prevent was the flu infection. The mice carried the virus in their body, but DAT kept the immune system from damaging the tissues of the lungs, Stappenbeck explains.

Further examinations of intestinal microbes are necessary
The researchers now want to try to identify other intestinal microbes that can also use flavonoids to affect the immune system. In addition, ways to strengthen the concentration of these bacteria in humans with a gut that is not sufficiently colonized by these microbes should be investigated. (As)