[Cien] Scientists bind processed foods to autoimmune diseases

The modern diet of processed foods, delivery and microwave meals may be responsible for a marked increase of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, including alopecia, asthma and eczema and inflammatory bowel - as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease - such as autoimmune diseases.A team of scientists at Yale University in the US and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, say the diets of junk food may be partly responsible.
"This study is the first to indicate that the excess of refined and processed salt may be an environmental factor driving the increase in incidence of autoimmune diseases", they said.
Junk foods at fast food restaurants and processed foods in the supermarket represent the largest sources of sodium intake of refined salts.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal sent an international team of researchers to compare the 2,124 items of fast food establishments salt content such as Burger King, Domino's Pizza, KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Subway. They found that the average salt content varied between companies and between the same products sold in different countries.
The US Food fast foods are often loaded more salt than those of other countries. While the government is leading public health campaigns and the legislative effort has decreased the refined salt levels in many countries, the US government has been reluctant to press the issue.This leaves companies free of fast food to add salt like crazy, says Norm Campbell, MD, an author of the study and an expert in blood pressure, the University of Calgary.
Many low-fat foods have salt - and salt - to enhance their flavor. A sachet of Italian KFC sauce (Marzetti Light Italian) can only have 15 calories and 0.5 grams of fat, but also has 510 mg of sodium.
Bread is the number one source of consumption of refined salt in the American diet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Only a baguette 6-inch Subway - only bread, no meat, no cheese - has 1,260 mg sodium as much as 14 strips of bacon.
As Refined salt causes autoimmune disease
The team from Yale University studied the role of helper T cells in the body. These activated and "help" other cells to combat dangerous pathogens such as bacteria or viruses and battle infections.
Previous research suggests that a subset of these cells - known as Th17 cells - also play an important role in the development of autoimmune diseases.In the latest study, scientists found in the laboratory that exposure of these cells to a table salt solution made them act more "aggressive".
They found that mice fed a diet high in refined salts had a dramatic increase in Th17 cells in their nervous systems, which promoted inflammation.They were also more likely to develop a severe form of a disease associated with multiple sclerosis in humans.
The researchers then conducted a more detailed discussion of these effects at a molecular level. Laboratory tests have shown that salt exposure increased levels of cytokines released by Th17 cells 10 times more than usual.
The co-author, Ralf Linker, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, said:"These results are an important contribution to the understanding of multiple sclerosis and may provide new targets for better treatment of the disease, so that at the moment there is no cure."Another author of the study, Professor David Hafler, Yale University, said that nature had the clear intention of the immune system attack the body of the host, so that he expected an external factor was playing a part.
He said, "These are not bad disease genes themselves, or diseases caused by the environment, but a bad disease interaction between the genes and the environment". Nowadays, all Western diets have a high salt content and led to increased pressure and perhaps also the autoimmune disease '
The staff next plan is to study the role that has Th17 cells in autoimmune diseases affecting the skin."It would be interesting to find out whether psoriasis patients can relieve their symptoms, reducing salt intake," he said.
"However, the development of autoimmune diseases is a very complex process depending on many environmental and genetic factors."Stick to the good salts
The problems are processed and refined salts.
The salt is critical to the health and non-metallic mineral is the most readily available worldwide.Our bodies are not designed for refined and processed sodium chloride, since it has no nutritional value.
However, when salt is filled with dozens of minerals such as pink salt crystals of Himalayan rocks or gray texture Celtic salt, our bodies benefit greatly from its incorporation in our diet.
"These minerals are identical to the elements that our bodies were built and were originally found in the primordial ocean where life originated," argues Dr. Barbara Hendel, researcher and co-author of Water & Salt, The Essence of Life.
"We have salty tears and salty sweating".The chemical and mineral composition of our blood and body fluids is similar to sea water."From the beginning of life, such as unborn babies, which are encased in a salty liquid bag".Minerals, she says, are healthy because they give your body the variety of mineral ions needed to balance its functions, stay healthy and heal. These healing properties have been recognized in Central Europe.In Wieliczka, Poland, a hospital was carved in a salt mountain. Asthmatics and patients with lung disease and allergies find that breathing the air in the salt mines underground chambers help to improve symptoms in 90% of cases.Dr. Hendel believed that mineral deficiencies, unlike excess salt, may be responsible for health problems.
It is a view that is echoed by other scholars, such as David McCarron, of Oregon Health Sciences University, USA.
He says that salt has always been part of the human diet, but what has changed is the mineral content of our food.Instead of eating foods rich in minerals such as nuts, fruits and vegetables, people are gorging on processed foods and fizzy drinks.