The global spread of autoimmune disease blamed on the western diet
More and more people around the world are suffering because their immune systems can no longer tell the difference between healthy cells and invading micro-organisms. Disease defences that once protected them are instead attacking their tissue and organs.
Autoimmune diseases range from type 1 diabetes to rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis. In each case, the immune system gets its wires crossed and turns on healthy tissue instead of infectious agents. Internationally, it is now estimated that cases of autoimmune diseases are rising by between 3% and 9% a year. Most scientists believe environmental factors play a key role in this rise.
“Human genetics hasn’t altered over the past few decades,” said James Lee, a world expert working at London’s Francis Crick Institute. “So something must be changing in the outside world in a way that is increasing our predisposition to autoimmune disease.” This group of scientists pointed to changes in diet that were occurring as more and more countries adopted western-style diets and people bought more fast food. Fast-food diets lack certain important ingredients, such as fiber, and evidence suggests this alteration affects a person’s microbiome – the collection of micro-organisms that we have in our gut and which play a key role in controlling various bodily functions. These changes in our microbiomes are then triggering autoimmune diseases, of which more than 100 types have now been discovered. Individual susceptibilities are involved in contracting such illnesses. So If you don’t have a certain genetic susceptibility, you won’t necessarily get an autoimmune disease, no matter how many Big Macs you eat. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the fundamental genetic mechanisms that underpin autoimmune diseases and make some people susceptible but others not. This task is possible thanks to the development of DNA sequencing to identify common genetic patterns among those suffering from an autoimmune disease. Such work aims to find out how these different genetic pathways operate and unravel the many different types of diseases doctors are now looking at.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/08/global-spread-of-autoimmune-disease-blamed-on-western-diet?ct=t(TSJ_112)&goal=0_ce350f41fb-784ef49182-112521485&mc_cid=784ef49182&mc_eid=9e20d68a23