Autoimmune Conditions
Our bodies are amazing things. Millions of years of evolution have led to a finely-tuned human organism which can adapt to many different climates, survive without food for some time, and reproduce itself – we’re the most influential organism on the planet as a result.
When it comes to keeping us healthy, the nose, mouth and lungs have the job of expelling and keeping out things in the air which could harm us and our immune system gets involved when coughing and sneezing has failed to get rid of the problem. But there is another route in for bacteria and viruses which most of us fail to consider.
More than 2000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Hippocrates said that 'all disease begins in the gut'. It seems he was on to something: new evidence shows that optimal health throughout the whole body starts in the gut.
To our immune system, anything in the gut from mouth to anus is effectively “outside” the body and our gut lining has the job of keeping out things like the bacteria and viruses in food and water which could harm us. If we damage the lining of our gut, viruses and bacteria can get through the gut wall and into our bodies. As a result, our amazing immune system goes on high alert and steps in to mop up the invaders. Once they’ve dealt with the problem, the immune system steps back down to a non-emergency state.
These systems for keeping us healthy are “normal” – it’s what we and our immune systems are designed to do. So how does it go wrong and lead to autoimmune conditions?
Autoimmunity occurs when our immune system begins to attack our own tissues, not some foreign invader. There are many conditions which are autoimmune in nature, like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), rheumatoid arthritis, eczema and psoriasis. Some of these are brought about by our environment, some by food or food additives, and others by an infection. Although the trigger for some of these conditions may not yet be known (or I just don’t know what it is), for many it is something called cellular mimicry by an invading particle which fools the immune system into thinking that our own tissues are actually the problem. Once our immune system has been trained in this way, sensitivity to that particle is likely to always be a problem.
Obviously, the ideal thing is not to allow the lining of the gut to become damaged (or “leaky”) in the first place and we now know that gluten is one of the culprits for damaging the wall of the intestine and getting through into the body tissues. It can take many years for symptoms to show up, so you can eat bread for a long time without knowing that damage is occurring. It turns out that our evolution has not yet had time to make us resilient against the gluten molecule – hence why so many are claiming their health improves after going gluten-free. For coeliac’s there is no alternative – their digestive system is so damaged that they are no longer absorbing the nutrients they need and it can be life-threatening and life-limiting. For the rest of us, most of us will find that we feel tired and bloated after eating a meal containing gluten. For some, an associated autoimmune condition will then rear its ugly head.
For me, rheumatoid arthritis was that condition. I’ve cut gluten out of my diet for the last two years so I’m no longer bloated after meals and my other autoimmune symptoms have also disappeared. I’m likely to have a flare up if I eat gluten or, it seems, get an infection, so I’ll always need to be careful what I eat and try and avoid people when they are poorly – but that’s a small price to pay for pain-free joints.
In coeliacs, very often their guts will heal within 6-12 months of giving up gluten. They may always have a sensitivity to it, but their exposure can be very well managed once that healing has taken place.
We can avoid or heal a leaky gut through eating whole foods and avoiding ultra-processed and starchy/sugary foods, vegetable oils and gluten. This is an evolutionarily appropriate human diet and one which our immune systems will be grateful for.
Helen Reynolds
Founder of KetoChoice
8th September 2023
#gluten #leakygut #keto #lowcarb #autoimmune #coeliac