Why You Need to be Careful About Adhering to a Low-Fiber, High-Fat Diet and How it Can Increase the Risk of Sepsis

The worst part of the Western diet is the heavy reliance on processed foods or junk food. These types of diets tend to be high in fat and low in fiber which is not what you want when you are trying to eat healthy. In fact, this diet can lead to a whole bunch of health problems such as, increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and even the chance to develop sepsis.

Sepsis is a type of life threatening illness that is the result of your body’s response to an infection. It is what happens when your immune system goes overboard in protecting your body from infections and illnesses. The chemicals in the immune system are released in the bloodstream to fight infections. This results in the rise of inflammation throughout the entire body. Sepsis can have all manner of symptoms:

• High fever above 101°
• A high heart rate at over 90 beats per minute
• A high breathing rate that is above 20 breaths per minute
• Probable or confirmed infection

When sepsis becomes severe, it can result in even more intense symptoms:

• Discolored skin patches
• Decreased urination
• Mental destabilization
• Low platelet count
• Chills
• Unconsciousness

If left untreated, sepsis can result in septic shock, which can result in blood clots and high blood pressure, which can eventually lead to death.

Recent research has shown that sepsis may not be directly related to weight gain and obesity. Studies done on mice show that a high fat low fiber diet is able to manipulate immune cell functionality, which can make people more susceptible to sepsis. This is a startling discovery because now doctors can identify people at risk for sepsis more accurately.