currentsinbiology:

Every meal triggers inflammation

When we eat, we do not just take in nutrients
– we also consume a significant quantity of bacteria. The body is
faced with the challenge of simultaneously distributing the ingested
glucose and fighting these bacteria. This triggers an inflammatory
response that activates the immune systems of healthy individuals and
has a protective effect, as doctors from the University and the
University Hospital Basel have proven for the first time. In overweight
individuals, however, this inflammatory response fails so dramatically
that it can lead to diabetes.

It is well known that type 2 diabetes (or adult-onset diabetes) leads
to chronic inflammation with a range of negative impacts. A number of
clinical studies have therefore treated diabetes by impeding the
over-production of a substance involved in this process,
Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta). In diabetes patients, this messenger
substance triggers chronic inflammation and causes insulin-producing
beta cells to die off.

Erez Dror, Elise Dalmas, Daniel T Meier, Stephan Wueest, Julien
Thévenet, Constanze Thienel, Katharina Timper, Thierry M Nordmann,
Shuyang Traub, Friederike Schulze, Flurin Item, David Vallois, Francois
Pattou, Julie Kerr-Conte, Vanessa Lavallard, Thierry Berney, Bernard
Thorens, Daniel Konrad, Marianne Böni-Schnetzler & Marc Y Donath. Postprandial macrophage-derived IL-1β stimulates insulin and both synergistically promote glucose disposal and inflammation. Nature Immunology, January 2017 DOI: 10.1038/ni.3659