High fat diet may increase risk of food poisoning from Listeria monocytogenes

APC Microbiome Ireland scientists based at University College Cork have shown for the first time that a high fat “western” diet reduces the efficiency of the immune system to fight infectious disease particularly in the gut, and to infection with the foodborne pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes.

The researchers found that feeding mice with a “westernised” diet, which is high in saturated fat and low in fermentable fibre, affected both the immune system and the bacteria resident in the gut (the gut microbiota).