Chronic inflammation, linked to medical conditions including heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease, and more, may be accelerated as a result of consuming diets high in fat.  Christina L. Sherry, from the University of Illinois (USA), and colleagues investigated whether soluble fiber might counteract the negative health effects resulting from a high-fat diet.  The team fed lab animals either a low-fat diet with soluble or insoluble fiber, and found that the animals exhibited dramatically distinct responses when their immune system was challenged: animals fed soluble fiber were found to display less sickness and a faster recovery rate.  Explaining that: “Peripheral activation of the immune system by infectious agents triggers the brain–cytokine system causing sickness behaviors which profoundly impact well-being,” the researchers write that:   “These data show that a diet rich in soluble fiber protects against endotoxin-induced sickness behavior by … promoting alternative activation of macrophages.”