Autoimmune Diseases is food a cause?

Autoimmune diseases are on the rise.  So what exactly is an autoimmune disease?  Sarah Ballantyne, PhD explains it very clearly in her incredible book The Paleo Approach:

"Autoimmune disease is a result of the interactions between your genes and your environment - a perfect storm of factors that cause the immune system to be unable to distinguish self (you) from invader (not you)."

"Medical researchers still don't completely understand why or how people develop autoimmune disease, but what is known points to three key factors:

•  Genetic Susceptibility
• Infection, environmental triggers, or bad luck
• Diet and lifestyle"

The list of autoimmune diseases is long and nearly impossible to assemble a complete list of suspected autoimmune diseases, but the major ones are:

• Alzheimer's disease
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; aka Lou Gehrig's disease)
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Dementia
• Lupus
• Epilepsy
• Fibromyalgia
• Chron's Disease
• Morphea
• Neuromyotonia
• Celiac Disease
• Parkinson's disease
• Progressive inflammatory neuropathy
• Schizophrenia
• Some forms of cancer

I admit, I haven't heard of many of these... Also the early symptoms of an autoimmune disease are "problems" most of us associate with day to day life which makes diagnosis a problem as they can be attributed to many other things not associated with autoimmune disease:

• Allergies
• Anxiety and depression
• Blood pressure changes
• Digestive problems
• Extreme fatigue
• Gallbladder disease
• Low blood sugar
• Malaise
• Memory problems
• Migraines
• Muscle or joint pain
• Muscle weakness
• PMS
• Rashes and other skin problems
• Recurrent headaches
• Resistance to weight loss
• Sleep disturbances
• Susceptibility to infections
• Swollen glands
• Thyroid problems
• Unexplained weight changes
• Yeast infections

However, if you have any of these symptoms, don't panic, it is not a foregone conclusion that you will develop an autoimmune disease if you have any of these symptoms.

Recently an article was published officially linking processed foods to autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and including alopecia, asthma and eczema.

A team of scientists from Yale University USA and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in Germany say that junk food diets could be partly to blame for a sharp increase in these diseases.  They attribute the large amounts of refined and processed salt found in fast food to be one of the environmental factors driving the increased incidence of autoimmune diseases.  

Fast food restaurants and high availability of processed foods in supermarkets are the largest sources of sodium intake from refined salts.  The Canadian Medical Association Journal sent out an international team of researchers to compare the salt content of 2,124 items from fast food restaurants such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Domino's Pizza, Burger King, McDonald's, Subway and Pizza Hut.  They found that the average salt content varied between companies and between the same products sold in different countries.

U.S. junk foods more often have twice the salt content of other countries.  In other countries, government-led public health campaigns and legislation efforts have managed to reduce refined salt levels, but the U.S. government has been reluctant to press the issue - letting the junk food companies free to do as they please, says Norm Campbell, M.D., one of the study authors and a blood pressure specialist at the University of Calgary.

The team from Yale University studied the role of T helper cells in the body.  These activate and help other cells to fight dangerous pathogens such as bacteria and viruses and battle infections.  Previous research suggests that a subset of these cells called Th17 cells, also play an important role in the development of autoimmune diseases.

The latest study discovered that exposing these cells in a lab to a table salt solution made them act more "aggressively".  They found that mice fed a diet high in refined salts saw a dramatic rise in the number of Th17 cells in their nervous systems that promoted inflammation.  They were also more likely to develop a severe form of a disease associated with multiple sclerosis in humans.

Lab tests revealed that salt exposure increased the levels of cytokines (proteins used to pass messages between cells) released by the Th17 cells as 10 times more than usual.

So, refined, processed and bleached salts are the problem.  Salt is essential to our health and is the most readily available nonmetallic mineral in the world.  Our bodies are not capable of processing refined sodium chloride as it has no nutritional value.  However, when a salt is filled with dozens of minerals such as rose-colored crystals of Himalayan rock salt or the grey texture of Celtic salt, our bodies benefit greatly when these types of salts are included in our diet.

"These mineral salts are identical to the elements of which our bodies have been built and were originally found in the primal ocean from where life originated," says Dr. Barbara Hendel, researcher and co-author of Water & Salt, The Essence of Life.  "We have salty tears and salty perspiration.  The chemical and mineral composition of our blood and body fluids are similar to sea water.  From the beginning of life, as unborn babies, we are encased in a sack of salty fluid."

"In water, salt dissolves into mineral ions.  These conduct electrical nerve impulses that drive muscle movement and thought processes.  Just the simple act of drinking a glass of water requires millions of instructions that come from mineral ions.  They're also needed to balance PH levels in the body."

So, it isn't a question of eliminating all salt from your diet, it is a question of using the RIGHT salts that will complement a healthy diet for optimal health and minimize your risk of developing an autoimmune disease.

Social Nutrition:  You can make an appointment to improve your health with Social Nutrition either in person (Madrid) or online (Skype).  Just send an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com