So many people I work with have an autoimmune disease. That name implies that your body is attacking itself.
Today we have a better understanding of the causes of these conditions - at least outside of "standard-of-care."
The two things that drive autoimmunity are:
Intestinal Permeability / Leaky Gut Syndrome, and
Stealth Chronic Infection.
It's not uncommon that someone with leaky gut also has an infection because leaky gut is usually associated with a compromised immune system - but not always.
Healthline defines intestinal permeability as: how easily substances pass through the intestinal wall. When the tight junctions of intestinal walls become loose, the gut becomes more permeable, which may allow bacteria and toxins to pass from the gut into the bloodstream. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as "leaky gut."
I think they are missing a very simple component of this syndrome. Our brain has a library of things - molecules, substances, etc. that are recognized to be either benign or helpful to our bodies. Anything NOT on this master list is an invader subject to the wrath of our immune system.
The building block of proteins are amino acids and there are a mere 20 of these crucial substances. Very small invaders, like prions and viruses, are mostly strings of amino acids forming protein chains. The amino acids come from the group of 20, so why all the distress?
Our body doesn't recognize proteins that are NOT part of our DNA architecture. When you each fish, your gut breaks down the fish protein to basic amino acids. Don't try injecting fish protein under your skin - without digestion - as you will probably have an "autoimmune" reaction.
Your gut is a highly sophisticated fine sieve. It allows digested micronutrients to pass, but holds back larger particles, until they are appropriately broken down or eliminated.
Irritants may open up these tight junctions and allow things that should never leave the digestive tract, to penetrate into your bloodstream.
Losing tight junction integrity doesn't just happen. It's a slow process of inflammation usually coupled to loss of optimal stomach acid, beneficial bacteria, liver, and kidney dysfunction, to name just a few issues.
The number one cause of this "NEW" epidemic is engineered and processed foods. Engineer foods are those that look normal but have been genetically modified. In many cases, our bodies have not had the time to adapt to this "strange new food," thus it's irritating to our gut lining. Gluten is the classic example, but there are more.
I have referred so many people to food allergy testing that we are now offering food allergy testing through our website. This testing provides important information about your health complaints, even if the test is negative. In these cases, we look at other mechanisms.
The value of this testing is great. We quickly get to the main cause and can work with you to put a stop to it. Think about a clogged sink with water running out onto the floor. The allergy testing allows us to "turn of the spigot." Eliminating the "insult" to your tight junctions is Step 1 in a processes of healing a very complex set of organs that comprise our gut.
I encourage you all to watch this 5-minute video so you understand the complexity of gut health....
https://youtu.be/Og5xAdC8EUI
Here is the link to our food allergy /sensitivity testing page.
Stay Well
Thomas J. Lewis, Ph.D.