What Environmental Triggers Are Associated With Autoimmune Diseases?

We’re going to talk still about autoimmunity. I’ve had so many people interested in this topic, so let’s just keep on talking about it for a while. What environmental triggers are associated with autoimmune diseases? I’ve got a person here in the States who’s been asking this question. In fact, I’ve had several people asking me, what causes autoimmune disease? Is it any particular type of a trigger or cause that I can identify and nail so I don’t get this disease? I’ve just looked at quite a few studies and in fact, studies from 2015, ’16, ’17, right up to recent ones. And 30% of autoimmune disease, roughly 30%, is genetic. So the other 70% is environmental. But what are some of the key things that actually cause autoimmune disease? Do we know any of these things?

Have we got any defined causes? Autoimmune disease is a leading killer among women. Particularly I think from 40 to about 60, so many people get auto immune disease these days. Something must start it. Something does start it. There’s lots of things you need to consider when it comes to autoimmunity. Here’s a nice little picture which I downloaded from the internet. I wonder if you can see this here. My apologies, it’s only in black and white. I don’t really have color printers. But you can see here the trigger, breakdown in the tolerance. Like I said, the immune system starts playing up here. Hang on, I’m dropping pins everywhere. Try this pin. So we’ve got this breakdown in oral tolerance. So your immune system starts to play up. You start getting changes in the bacteria in your gut.

This is a big, big problem. In my personal opinion, this is one of the key drivers behind autoimmune disease is the change in the gut microbiota. Okay? And then of course we start getting leaky gut. You can see here enhanced gut permeability to larger molecules. So things actually start slipping through the gut and challenge the immune system that should have stayed in the small intestine. So leaky gut is almost always there with autoimmunity. And then of course we get a major immune reaction, where the body can’t recognize self anymore and it starts attacking its own cells. And then we develop autoimmunity or neuro autoimmunity. We can get diseases like multiple sclerosis, even ALS or motor neuron disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease. A lot of these diseases now are linked with some type of chemical, or some type of a poison or something.

I’ll tell you what really scares me is this glyphosate, or we call it Roundup in New Zealand. We still use it like candy down here. All the farmers just pour it on the fields everywhere. In the European Union, it’s being banned. So when we keep using chemicals that actually actively kill weeds, and then pour gallons of it on soil, and then actually grow crops in the soil and eat it, how stupid can we be? Now you can understand why I like to grow some of my own food. In fact, I only grow all my own food in the garden. And these are the reasons why. So what are some of the environmental triggers, do you think? Toxic chemicals, heavy metals have been associated. I read interesting studies on arsenic, for example. Some populations of tribes, American Indian tribes have been hit with very severe autoimmune disease. And they discovered that they were drinking water out of lakes that were full of arsenic. And why did the arsenic get in the lake?

Arsenic’s a byproduct, unfortunately of gold mining. So asbestos is another one. One other one, which I found in multiple research papers on, is poor dental health. Now this is the tip of the iceberg. Okay? Poor dental health now is associated with a lot of autoimmune disease. This is a priority in your life. If you’ve got poor dental health, rotten teeth or bad gums, you’ve got to get it sorted. It’s bad. It’s like having a house, a foundation full of termites or pests, and you’re basically ignoring it until the whole thing starts caving in, right? You’ve got to get onto things. Now, this is the big problem with autoimmune diseases, because the symptoms, the onset is so vague and nonspecific. People report to the doctor with conditions like tiredness, malaise, can’t sleep. Maybe a little bit of fever or something. So they get told to go home and take a paracetamol and come back in a week after they’ve paid their bill.

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And then they keep coming back, until they start knocking harder and harder on the doctor’s door. And they may actually do a bit of testing, autoimmune testing. We’ve spoken in a previous video in this series on testing for autoimmunity, some of the blood markers. But this one’s about the triggers. The key thing I see would be chemicals. Okay. Now that could be glyphosate, that could be any chemical you’re using around the house. And of course we’re getting more chemicals coming out every day. The second one of course is diet. Okay. Crappy diets give you crappy health. I don’t have to keep beating this drum every day. So do you think going keto is going to stop you getting autoimmune disease? Not really. Do you think going paleo or keto or cutting out all gluten or something like that, is that necessarily going to stop autoimmune disease?

I don’t see it that way. You need to try and work out what your potential triggers are before you get sick. And the best way to do that is to eat clean and avoid as many chemicals as you can in your life. Especially personal care products that you rub on your skin, your face, your hair, all over. Try and use certified organic products. There are many companies now that make really nice clean certified products. I’ve used organic stuff in my hair and scalp and skin for 20 plus years. So just be careful. If you can’t stick it in your mouth, don’t rub it on your skin. That’s how I think. So gut dysbiosis is a big one. Gut dysbiosis comes again through the poor diet, but it’s the chemical angle I’m interested in. Once you start eating regularly take away foods, crappy fats and oils, lots of candy, lots of weird artificial colors and flavorings, all sorts of chemicals and crap that they put in food these days.

And then you throw it in the microwave for a few minutes and roast it on high in a plastic dish and then take it out and eat it. Is it any wonder why we’re getting autoimmune disease? What about just a plain china plate with a bit of steamed broccoli on it and a piece of fish? Basic stuff. If you keep eating like this, fresh, healthy and clean, avoid the chemicals, get the dental health sorted, keep your weight down, because excess body fat’s another trigger. You’re going to be in a much better position to avoid these triggers in your life, which could eventually mean autoimmunity. It’s not fun having autoimmune disease. Try every way you can to get rid of the chemicals out of your life, the stress out of your life. It’s not that difficult to do. Because I’ll tell you now, I’ve seen many people suffer seriously bad with autoimmune disease.

Lots of men and women younger than me, horrible lives, and I’ve seen the triggers. I’ve seen the causes in these people’s lives, and unfortunately it was too late for them. In multiple cases, I’ve seen people with very poor dental health go on to develop lupus or scleroderma or a condition like that. I rarely see people with outstanding dental health, with great diets and low stress, get autoimmune disease. Food for thought. Think about it. Clean up your act, clean up the place you live in, clean up your diet. You’ll be surprised. And it’s one good step in the right direction in terms of preventing autoimmunity.