Research
Hormonal
Obesity impairs the immune response to pathogens, increasing susceptibility to severe infections like influenza, due to defects in T cell development, function, and vaccine efficacy.
Obesity weakens your body's ability to fight off viruses like the flu and reduces the effectiveness of vaccines. Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for robust immune defense, especially during flu season or pandemics.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Obesity is also associated with impairments in response to pathogens... obese individuals were at increased risk for morbidity and mortality... Contributing mechanisms appear to be defects in CD8+ T cells including an impaired memory T cell response, impaired lung wound healing, and increased leptin concentrations.
Why this rating
Supported by human epidemiological data and rodent models.
Source
Adipose tissue as an immunological organ
Ryan W. Grant et al. · Obesity · 2015
DOI 10.1002/oby.21003
narrative_reviewCited 439×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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