{"id":1966,"date":"2019-10-11T09:25:05","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T13:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=1966"},"modified":"2022-03-09T09:19:36","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T13:19:36","slug":"what-causes-autoimmune-disease-diet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-causes-autoimmune-disease-diet\/","title":{"rendered":"What Causes Autoimmune Disease? It Could Be Your Diet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What causes autoimmune diseases? Is there anything you can do to prevent them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most doctors agree that autoimmune diseases are some of the hardest to treat because their cause isn\u2019t well understood and there\u2019s no cure. Is it possible that our food choices affect even these stubborn and grim illnesses? We’ll look at how different autoimmune diseases are related in an effort to understand why they might have a common source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Many Unknowns: What Causes Autoimmune Disease?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In people with autoimmune disease, the body attacks itself. The immune system thinks it\u2019s assaulting foreign invader cells, but it\u2019s actually destroying normal body cells. Tens of millions of Americans have autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis<\/a> (MS), Type 1 diabetes, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.
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Before looking at food\u2019s role in the development of autoimmune diseases, let\u2019s look at their bodily source, the immune system.
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How the Immune System Works<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We can think of the immune system as our body\u2019s military. White blood cells are the soldiers, keeping us safe by attacking foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses.<\/strong>
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Whenever it confronts a new invader, the immune system creates a protein that mirrors the invader protein. This mirror protein molds itself onto the invader and destroys it.
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The Problem: Some invaders look a lot like our own cells.<\/strong> The molds that fit and destroy invaders can also fit and destroy the normal cells that look like them.
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Sometimes, the immune system\u2019s molds get confused. They can\u2019t tell the difference between invaders and similar-looking cells, so they attack the normal cells. This is the root of an autoimmune disease.
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Autoimmune Diseases May Have a Common Cause<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While the presentation of each autoimmune disease differs, we can speak about them as a group and even discuss a common cause because of six ways they\u2019re alike:
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Commonality #1:<\/strong> Each is a disease in which the body\u2019s immune system attacks itself.
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Commonality #2:<\/strong> All studied autoimmune diseases are more prevalent in northern areas far from the equator, where there\u2019s less sunlight.
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Commonality #3:<\/strong> Some of these diseases cluster together in individuals. For example, MS and Type 1 diabetes often occur in the same individuals and Parkinson\u2019s and MS are both common in the same geographic areas (and may also affect the same individuals). Numerous other associations like these exist.
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Commonality #4:<\/strong> For all these diseases, consumption of animal foods in general, and cow\u2019s milk in particular, has been linked to greater risk. Let\u2019s take a look at how they may be related.
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Foreign proteins are called antigens. There\u2019s evidence that antigens that trick our bodies into attacking themselves come from the foods we eat <\/strong>in the form of undigested proteins. The immune system may treat undigested proteins from food as foreign invaders.
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Cow\u2019s milk especially has many proteins that mimic those in our bodies. In some people, these antigens confuse the immune system. Instead of attacking undigested milk proteins, it attacks similar-looking body proteins.
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Commonality #5:<\/strong> A virus may trigger several autoimmune diseases.
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Commonality #6:<\/strong> The \u201cmechanisms of action\u201d of these diseases, or the process of development, are similar. There\u2019s evidence that vitamin D is involved in the most prominent mechanism.
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Just as a deficiency in \u201csupercharged\u201d vitamin D can increase prostate cancer risk, it can also increase your risk of developing an autoimmune disease.
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Supercharged vitamin D is a necessary component of your immune response.<\/strong> Without it, your immune system doesn\u2019t work as efficiently.
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Excessive amounts of calcium and animal proteins (which cause excess acid in the body) hamper the body\u2019s ability to supercharge vitamin D from sunlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These six commonalities allow us to talk about autoimmune diseases as a group. They also offer a possible answer to the question, “What causes autoimmune disease?”: Animal foods.
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Recommendations<\/strong> for Preventing Autoimmune Disease<\/h2>\n\n\n\n