Nutrition and Autoimmunity Pt. 1

Continuing from the last blog post, we know how important it is to keep a healthy and strong immune system. But what happens when that perfect system starts to malfunction and fight back? Autoimmune disease is a chronic condition in which the immune system cannot determine foreign invaders from its very own human tissue. This leads to the body attacking itself and causing system wide inflammation, also referred to as systemic inflammation.

These conditions have been increasing in individuals at an alarming rate over the last decade or two, and no one can really put a finger on why that is. From the research that has been done and theories developed, the most obvious, at least in the functional medicine world, is a connection to the health of the GI.

Recall that majority of the immune system is in the gut, I’m talking like 70% of it. There is striking evidence that an individual eating a poor diet, mostly mirroring the standard American diet (SAD, it’s literally shortened to SAD) has a greater chance to develop an immune disfunction. Now, there are several other environmental and genetic factors, including specific genes one may possess that come into play, but for the sake of keeping this somewhat short, today we will focus on diet and its impact.

The intestinal wall barrier plays a huge role in immune function. The integrity of this barrier is regulated through something called “tight junctions.” These tight junctions prevent substances inside the GI from leaking IN BETWEEN cells, ideal we just want substances being absorbed THROUGH the cells. The failure of these tight junctions to do that is referred to as “leaky gut” aka increased intestinal permeability. When these substances leak into the blood stream, it causes an immediate immune response. Why on Earth would these tight junctions fail us to begin with? There’s a few reasons unfortunately and they tie back to the SAD and diets similar to it. 

Autoimmune diseases are considered a “western” disease, and the SAD, a very western diet, is incredibly pro-inflammatory, a staple of all these conditions. Continuous inflammation from poor diet plagues the GI, and the tight junctions become, well, not so tight. Gluten, even in those without Celiac, and dairy are two pro-inflammatory foods that will contribute to gut irritation and the loosening of the tight junctions, especially if eaten in extreme excess like they are in the SAD. Once these junctions are loose, it is more likely that an immune response will be sparked up from material leaking through. Disbiosis, or an overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut will also contribute to the madness. It is suggested that those 2 pathologies, leaky gut and dibiosis, must be preexisting in order for someone to develop an autoimmune disease. Hence why it SO important to eat an anti-inflammatory diet, free of over processed foods and added sugars to help support such a delicate system. 

In our next blog post we will discuss the breakthroughs in nutrition therapy surrounding these conditions, and what you can do to help heal your GI and prevent “leaky gut.”