Immunology institute research supports link between Western diet and rise in autoimmune conditions

World experts at the Francis Crick Institute have added weight to the theory that autoimmune conditions are not due to genetic susceptibility alone.

In the UK, cases of autoimmune diseases are thought to be rising at a rate of between 3-9% each year.

“Numbers of autoimmune cases began to increase about 40 years ago in the west. However now we are seeing some emerge in countries that never had such diseases before. Human genetics hasn’t altered much over the past few decades, so something must be changing in the outside world”, said James Lee, of the Francis Crick Institute.

“Fast-food diets lack certain important ingredients, such as fibre, and the evidence suggests this alteration affects a person’s microbiome - which plays a key role in controlling various bodily functions. These changes in our microbiomes are then triggering autoimmune diseases”, said Carole Vinusa, also of the Institute.

What is interesting here is that while these scientists blame highly processed foods for the rise in autoimmune diseases, they consider it impossible to stop this dietary trend, preferring to focus instead on developing more personalised medication-based therapies that attempt to reduce symptoms once disease has developed.

Nutritional therapy is based on the opposite approach, that despite what other people are eating, as an individual you do have the choice to reduce highly processed foods and add in more variety of fibre and other key nutrients, and that doing this can reduce autoimmune disease.

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