What Causes Autoimmunity? A Different Perspective on the Root Cause.
First, what is autoimmune disease? The definition we’re most familiar with is any disease in which the body attacks itself. There’s also Matzinger’s danger theory, which postulates it’s the body’s way of signaling that certain cells/tissues are under stress or dying.
Regardless of which you side with, the cause of autoimmunity remains unknown. That said, I believe there are 1-3 key drivers: stress, iron overload (which is also a stress itself) and estrogen (a stress hormone). Before we dive in, it’s important to remember that the body processes stress the same way, whether it be physical, emotional, chemical, etc. According to Alfred Fielder (1899), under stress there is:
Magnesium loss
> Weakened stress response
> Chronic stress hormone release
> More Mg loss
> Electrolyte confusion
> Reduced energy production
> Cell death
> Inflammation
= Disease
In my ‘Stress Shrinks the Thymus’ post, I talked about how stress shrinks and disintegrates the thymus, which is a key part of the immune system. Without the thymus to regulate, B cells are more likely to produce auto-antibodies, which can lead to autoimmunity.
Both copper deficiency and/or iron overload can also drive autoimmunity. Either triggers the production of Hepcidin, an “inflammation hormone,” which degrades our ability to properly recycle iron. Iron builds up in the gut, causing hypoxia (and HIF-2a) in the small intestine, flooding iron into the bloodstream and into tissues all over the body. This causes more storage of iron in our tissues, cascading into more oxidative stress, stimulation of the immune system (NF-kB, IL-1, IL-6, TNFa, etc), the activation of the danger sensor (NLRP3)...the vicious cycle continues until disease hits.
Another factor is estrogen, demonstrated by the high percentage of women that have autoimmune issues like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Hashimotos. Estrogen drives mast and other cells to release histamine and other inflammation-promoters. It also has a relationship with iron: when iron is high, estrogen is high, and there’s more storage of both, driving more inflammation and immune activity.
Where to go from here? Reduce stress, reduce iron load, up bioavailable copper.
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This is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare professional before pursuing any changes to your personal healthcare regime.
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References
Autoimmune Registry. Estimates of Prevalence for Autoimmune Disease. Retrieved from: https://www.autoimmuneregistry.org/autoimmune-statistics.
Functional Performance Systems. (2012). Autoimmune Disease and Estrogen Connection. Retrieved from: https://www.functionalps.com/blog/2012/03/25/autoimmune-disease-and-estrogen-connection/.
Peat, R. (2006). Immunodeficiency, dioxins, stress, and the hormones. Retrieved from: http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/immunodeficiency.shtml.
Robbins, M. (2016). Iron Toxicity Post #31: When iron is out of control, it has profound effect on magnesium status! Retrieved from: https://therootcauseprotocol.com/omg-mag-me-with-a-spoon-1/.
Robbins, M. (2017). Iron Toxicity Post #59: A Tale of two irons and the hepcidin peptide that regulates them. Retrieved from: https://therootcauseprotocol.com/iron-toxicity-59-a-tale-of-two-irons-the-hepcidin-peptide-that-regulates-them-causes-chaos-confusion-clinical-conditions-clinical-currency/.
Robbins, M. (2018). Iron Toxicity Post #70: The Iron-ic truth of osteoporosis. Retrieved from: https://therootcauseprotocol.com/iron-toxicity-post-70/.
Robbins, M. (2018). Iron Toxicity Post #75: PROOF that Copper Deficiency is the CAUSE of so-called ‘anemia’. Retrieved from: https://therootcauseprotocol.com/iron-toxicity-post-75-formerly-itp76/.
Abderrazak, A. Syrovets, T. Couchie, D. Hadri, K.E. Friguet, B. Simmet, T. Rouis, M. (2015). NLRP3 inflammasome: From a danger signal sensor to a regulatory node of oxidative stress and inflammatory diseases. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213231715000099.
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