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Nature 422, 27-28 (6 March 2003) | doi:10.1038/422027a

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Immunology: Fast and feel good?

Vijay K. Kuchroo & Lindsay B. Nicholson

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Claims that fasting eases symptoms of autoimmune disease have been met with scepticism. But the idea receives some support from the finding that leptin, a hormone that controls body weight, also regulates autoimmunity.

Malnourished people present a tempting target for pathogens. Measles, for example, is renowned for being a more serious disease in populations that are starving or close to starving.

  1. Vijay K. Kuchroo and Lindsay B. Nicholson are at the Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.

Correspondence to: Vijay K. Kuchroo e-mail: Email: vkuchroo@rics.bwh.harvard.edu