Research
Energy balance
Glucose is the primary fuel source for immune cells, with activation leading to a rapid increase in glucose consumption and glycolysis, similar to insulin-responsive adipose tissue.
Immune activation requires significant energy, primarily from glucose. While this paper doesn't prescribe a specific glucose intake, it highlights that immune cells metabolize glucose rapidly during activation, linking metabolic health (glucose handling) to immune function.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
We will try to show the reader how the highly energy-demanding immune cells use glucose as a main source of fuel in a way similar to that of insulin-responsive adipose tissue... glucose should be considered the quantitatively most important fuel to fulfil the energy requirement of immune cells
Why this rating
Well-established immunometabolic concept supported by multiple citations in the review.
Source
Feeding Our Immune System: Impact on Metabolism
Isabelle Wolowczuk et al. · Clinical and Developmental Immunology · 2008
DOI 10.1155/2008/639803
narrative_reviewCited 297×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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