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Autoimmune diseases can be caused by too salty foods

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
 
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09 March 2013, 09:40

European scientists have reported that the abuse of salt can be one of the reasons for the early development of autoimmune disease. Among the most common autoimmune diseases, doctors called multiple sclerosis, asthma and eczema.

Recent studies have helped scientists from the US and Germany discover the relationship between the formation of autoimmune diseases and the regular consumption of large amounts of salt. At the moment, doctors are trying to find out whether salt food can actually cause serious diseases associated with immune system disorders.

Autoimmune diseases modern medicine considers a number of diseases that develop due to unnatural production of autoimmune antibodies or reproduction of natural killers (killer cells) as opposed to healthy cells of a living organism. Diseases are associated with a violation of the immune system of the body or some of its components. In the development of autoimmune diseases, T-lymphocytes are almost always involved (when an autoimmune disease occurs, the functions of this group of cells slow down and the development of the immune response is inhibited).

Autoimmune diseases are also characterized by the fact that the function of T-helpers (so-called lymphocyte-assistants) is amplified and this leads to an excessive immune response to its own antigens. Any of these processes is considered a serious violation of the human immune system.

Researchers from universities in Germany and the United States in the process of scientific experiments drew attention to cells that participate in inflammatory processes in people exposed to autoimmune diseases. Scientists have established that habitues of fast food establishments in the body have an overabundance of cells that during the inflammatory process "attacked" their own organism.

Researchers associate fast food, which in abundance contains table salt, and the risks of developing autoimmune diseases. Studies have shown that excess salt disrupts the immune system. Scientists have conducted several experiments on small rodents and the results showed that in mice that fed excessively salty foods inflammatory processes in the body were seen several times more often.

Over the past few decades, the number of reported autoimmune diseases has increased in the United States, and scientists attribute this to the widespread use of fast food products, without which almost no one manages in everyday life.

The most common disease is multiple sclerosis, which in the absence of treatment is a danger to human life.

Most often autoimmune diseases are chronic, with different periods of development, exacerbations and possible remissions. The reactions that accompany taking any medications or are a side effect of another disease can be short-lived. The authors of the study continue to study the effect of table salt on the development of autoimmune reactions in the body and the role of T-helper lymphocytes in inflammatory processes. The data obtained after the experiment with rodents allow us to talk about the effect of salt on the behavior of the immune system, but the participants in the scientific experiment continue their work and do not hurry with unambiguous conclusions.

trusted-source[1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]

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