Did you know that March is Auto-immune Awareness month and there are over 100 known autoimmune diseases affecting nearly 50 million Americans? More people are getting auto-immune diseases than ever before and women are twice as likely to be impacted.
Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissues, leading to chronic inflammation and damage. Conditions like T1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and MS are some of the more common types. What’s most concerning is that rates of autoimmune diseases have been rising year over year – some by 3-5%, others by more. Those are staggering increases.
Research suggests that these increases are very likely related to environmental changes, including things like chronic stress, higher rates of obesity, poor sleep, air pollution, exposure to other toxic chemicals, and underlying infections or viruses.
In the book, The Autoimmune Epidemic (which I highly recommend), Noel Rose, who has been noted as the “father of auto-immune disease research”, said this:
We have no other good explanation as to why there should be an increase in auto-immune diseases except for the things to which we are exposed in the environment. Auto-immunity is our immune system’s effort to adapt – it’s an unsuccessful adaptation but it’s our body’s way of trying to fight back.”
DeLisa Fairweather, PhD, protege and co-author with Noel Rose stated this:
The human immune system can become so besieged by unrelenting contact with a toxic barrage of viruses, chemicals, and heavy metals that it’s practically forced to run amok. The synergistic combination of chemicals in our daily food and air, coupled with common viral hits, puts our immune system through so many drills that they are on constant high alert and simply can’t handle it.
Environmental toxins—such as BPA (found in the lining of canned foods and certain plastics), heavy metals, and air pollution, may be playing a significant role in both new incidences and in worsening symptoms of existing diseases.
Environmental chemicals can:
🧬 Disrupt Immune Function: Environmental toxins disrupt normal T-cell regulation. T-cells help to keep the immune system in check, which can lead to immune dysregulation.
⚡️ Cause Oxidative Stress: Glutathione, a critical antioxidant, is depleted by toxic chemicals, which compromises immune function and increases oxidative stress, a key feature in autoimmune diseases.
🛡 Disrupt Immune Barriers: Toxins can damage the body’s protective barriers (like the gut and blood-brain barrier), leading to toxins being where they shouldn’t be, triggering chronic inflammation and autoimmune responses.
🧠 Epigenetic Changes: Toxins can alter DNA methylation and gene expression, contributing to autoimmune diseases in genetically susceptible individuals.
But there is some good news. Reducing exposure to environmental toxins and supporting our body’s innate detox capabilities may help manage or even prevent autoimmune conditions.
Here are some practical steps we can take to support our health by lowering toxic exposures:
1. Clean up your air.
Since we spend more time indoors during the colder months, improving indoor air quality is crucial. If you don’t live in an area with a lot of air pollution, open your windows when possible; use air purifiers with HEPA filters, and avoid synthetic air fresheners and candles.
2. Choose natural cleaning and laundry products.
Switch out conventional cleaning and laundry supplies, which are often filled with VOCs, fragrances, and other harsh chemicals, for non-toxic alternatives. Look for products labeled as “fragrance-free” or consider making your own all-purpose cleaner with simple ingredients like vinegar and baking soda. Opt for wool dryer balls instead of heavily fragranced dryer sheets.
3. Prioritize organic and whole foods.
Choosing organic produce when possible, will help lower exposure to pesticides. Choosing whole foods, and minimally processed foods can help to lower chemicals found in food packaging. Focus on nutrient-dense, whole foods that naturally support your immune system, like leafy greens, citrus fruits, garlic, ginger, and turmeric.
4. Minimize plastic in the kitchen, and single-use plastic packaging. Plastics often leach chemicals like phthalates and bisphenols. Find opportunities to replace plastic items in your kitchen (plates, cups, food storage, mixing bowls, strainers, utensils, teflon-coated pans, etc) with safer materials (glass, stainless steel, wood, cast iron, etc) and avoid heating or storing foods in plastic.
5. Boost your body’s innate detox capacity.
Support your body’s natural detox pathways by staying hydrated (with filtered water if possible), eating fiber-rich foods, and incorporating herbs like milk thistle and dandelion root (I love these in tea!). Saunas and regular physical activity can also help your body reduce your body burden of toxins through sweat.
This, coupled with getting good sleep and minimizing stress, can go a long way towards helping to manage, and even prevent auto-immune disorders.
Pretty fascinating stuff! If you’re interested in reading The Autoimmune Epidemic, it’s one of my recommended books on Bookshop.org.
Also, if you’re tired of all the mixed health and product messaging out there, my SHOP section has some excellent (and well vetted) truly non-toxic options for the above replacements and some of my links can get my Lower Tox Living community added discounts on things like air purifiers or water filters so be sure to check it out.
If you are someone who benefits more from 1:1 support, I’d love to work together. Combining info on how to reduce chronic daily exposures to environmental chemicals, with functional nutrition allows me to take a unique approach and focus on both the internal and external environments that are driving chronic health issues like auto-immune diseases.
Do you know someone with an auto-immune disease? Did you know this about the connection between our environment and auto-immune disease?
References: The Autoimmune Epidemic, PMID: 34377090, PMID: 32542149, PMID: 36446151
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