Metabolism directly impacts the odds of developing malaria.

A study has shown that metabolism directly impacts the odds of developing malaria.Researchers have found that the host's susceptibility to develop malaria depends on his or her metabolic state, which can be easily manipulated through external stimuli such as dietary patterns. The progression and development of an infectious disease is directly dependent not only on the characteristics of the causing infectious agent but also on the genetic characteristics of the host, which also dictate the efficiency of the infection. During the last years scientific discoveries have suggested that external factors independent of the host-parasite dichotomy, such as eating habits, can impact in the establishment, progression and endpoint of infections. The team manipulated the diet fed to lab mice for very short periods of time and evaluated the level of infection caused by the malaria parasite.The results, now published in the journal Nature Microbiology, show that an increase in the levels of pro-oxidants caused by dietary shifts leads to a 90% reduction in parasite load during the hepatic phase of the infection and consequently lowers the severity of the disease.