Shelly Case, a registered dietician, celiac disease diet expert, and author of Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, believes that a gluten-free diet may work for people with Celiac disease, but there is no scientific evidence that proves that a gluten-free diet works for all autoimmune diseases such as lupus.
Is There a Link Between Nutrition and Autoimmune Disease?
By: Sharon Palmer, RD
November 2011
Should you follow a Paleo gluten-free diet or a vegan diet? Should you pop omega-3 or turmeric supplements? About 23 million people in the United States who suffer from autoimmune diseases face these questions every day. The Internet is teeming with books, websites, and blogs offering advice on how to eat to prevent or treat autoimmune conditions. Unfortunately, much of it is based on hype and hope instead of solid scientific evidence.
What Is Autoimmune Disease?
Autoimmunity is the No. 2 cause of chronic illness, according to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA), a nonprofit health agency dedicated to increasing awareness of autoimmune diseases. About 5% of the U.S. population has been diagnosed and treated for an autoimmune disease, and another 10% to 20% have early-stage autoimmune symptoms and imbalances, reports Paula H. Mendelsohn, MPH, RD, LD, CCN, a Florida-based dietitian who specializes in treating autoimmune diseases. About 75% of these cases occur in women, most frequently during the childbearing years.
When everything goes right, your body’s immune response is a marvelous defense system, protecting against foreign invaders, injury, and infection through a complex communication system between your body’s cells and the chemical signals they produce. In a healthy immune system, this communication is clear and specific; the body can tell the difference between a foreigner and itself. But in autoimmune disease, the immune response is flawed, and the communication system breaks down. The body’s immune system takes aim at its own tissues. Either the immune system can’t distinguish the body’s tissues from foreign cells and begins to attack itself, or it’s unable to regulate the intensity of the immune response. Regardless, the result is damage to the body’s tissues and the development of an autoimmune disease.
Autoimmune diseases can affect nearly every part of the body. Scientists have identified more than 80 clinically distinct autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and chronic inflammatory bowel disease. For example, in Sjögren’s syndrome, your white blood cells attack moisture-producing glands, causing symptoms like dry eyes and dry mouth. And in type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. People who suffer from autoimmune diseases often experience loss of function, disability, increased hospitalizations and outpatient visits, decreased productivity, and impaired quality of life.
Looking for Answers
Despite its prevalence, the level of basic autoimmune research funding is below 3% of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) total budget, which may explain why we understand so little about the roots of these diseases. Indeed, AARDA reports that the whole arena of autoimmune research is in its infancy. Though there are many theories about the origins of autoimmune diseases—such as the hygiene hypothesis theory, which suggests that the rise of such diseases in industrialized nations may be linked to cleanliness, vaccines, and decreased exposure to bacteria—scientists don’t fully understand why the immune system is unable to recognize its own cells or regulate its response; thus there are no sure cures or prevention strategies as of yet. We do know there are factors at the root of autoimmune disease development, which include both genetic and environmental components.
Currently, researchers are beginning to understand that autoimmunity may play an important role in many chronic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease. In fact, the NIH established the Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence to promote research in areas such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, pemphigus vulgaris, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, and Sjögren’s syndrome. The goal is to foster collaborative research across scientific disciplines and medical specialties to find effective treatments and prevention approaches.
