Sandhya Raghavan
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Written By: Sandhya Raghavan | Published : October 26, 2017 1:01 PM IST
Your immune system works day and night to fight off external invaders who could compromise your health. The complex network of cells, tissues and organs that form the immune system are adept at recognising the enemy and improvising it attack accordingly. But strangely, this otherwise efficient system can sometimes misfire and attack healthy cells, mistaking them for a pathogen. This condition is known as autoimmunity and it's a difficult problem to live with. Modern medicine is still grasping at straws to know why it happens and what causes it but there is no consensus among the medical community. Is your mind responsible for autoimmunity? However, there are some risk factors that will make you more susceptible to autoimmunity than the others.
Genetic factors
If anyone in your family had an autoimmune disorder, there is a good chance you'd have it too. Around one third of the cause is genetic. Genes related to autoimmune conditions such as immunoglobulins, T-cell receptors and major histocompatibility complexes generally get inherited in the family. But not everyone who is genetically predisposed to the condition will develop autoimmunity. Other factors such as environment, gender, race and lifestyle will also play a role in development of the condition. The protein PTPN22 expressed in immune cells is responsible for autoimmune conditions such as type 1 diabetes, myasthenia gravis, lupus, vitiligo, Addison's disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis.123
Being a woman
Autoimmune disorders affect 8 percent of the human population. Out of which, a disproportionate amount, close to 80 percent are women, although the ones in men are more severe. The reason why women are more susceptible than men are unknown, but the current assumption is that the female sex hormones enhance the hyperimmune responses to infections, which causes an increased prevalence of the condition in women.4
A western diet
What's a western diet? It comprises mostly of processed refined foods such as junk food; unhealthy amounts of saturated fats; inflammatory ingredients; empty calories such as sugars, white flour and white rice; animal produces like red meat, eggs, dairy; and condiments like salt. This diet is also deficient in healthy food such as vegetables, fruit, fish, whole grains and legumes. A lifestyle revolving around a diet like this can cause metabolic disorders, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Science speculates that an increased dependence on junk food and inflammatory ingredients can promote autoimmune diseases.5
The hygiene hypothesis
Popularity of hygiene products such as hand sanitisers and antiseptic soaps that promise 99.9 percent germ protection suggests that we are becoming a germophobic race. Scientists believe that this mentality could deprive the immune system of some of the benefits of being exposed to pathogens. When we keep ourselves isolated from pathogens through antiseptics and vaccines, the immune system responds to these intruders in an exaggerated manner, causing it to misfire and kill healthy cells. This overreaction could lead to autoimmune disorders. Strangely, the areas where infectious diseases are rampant, autoimmune diseases are rare.6
References:
1. Heward, J., & Gough, S. C. (1997). Genetic susceptibility to the development of autoimmune disease. Clinical Science, 93(6), 479-491.
2. Ceccarelli, F., Agmon-Levin, N., & Perricone, C. (2016). Genetic Factors of Autoimmune Diseases. Journal of Immunology Research, 2016, 3476023. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/3476023
3. Vang, T., Miletic, A. V., Bottini, N., & Mustelin, T. (2007). Protein tyrosine phosphatase PTPN22 in human autoimmunity. Autoimmunity, 40(6), 453-461.
4.Fairweather, D., & Rose, N. R. (2004). Women and Autoimmune Diseases. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 10(11), 2005 2011. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1011.040367
5.Manzel, A., Muller, D. N., Hafler, D. A., Erdman, S. E., Linker, R. A., & Kleinewietfeld, M. (2014). Role of Western Diet in Inflammatory Autoimmune Diseases. Current Allergy and Asthma Reports, 14(1), 404. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11882-013-0404-6
6.Rook, G. A. (2012). Hygiene hypothesis and autoimmune diseases. Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology, 42(1), 5-15.
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