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Western Diet Permanently Alters the Immune System & Alters Gene Expression

For many years we have been trying to explain to people how their diet is a major factor in their current health and how a poor diet can actually cause expression of many inflammatory disease states within the body. There is now research which shows how the western diet permanently alters the immune system and alters gene expression.

New research has shown that our immune system responses to the Western diet very similar to how it reacts to infection by dangerous bacteria. The research was led by the University of Bonn in Germany and published in the journal Cell.

One of the disturbing results of the study is that the longer we consume a high GI, highly refined foods, and Western diet, that it can make the immune system become hyper-responsive to inflammation triggers. We know that a diet in highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates actually causes high inflammation in the body.

The longer we eat this way, these long-term changes may contribute to type 2 diabetes, arteriosclerosis, inflammatory bowel conditions, cancers,  gynaecological conditions,  and several other conditions wherein inflammation is thought to play a part, and which have been linked to consumption of a highly refined Western based diet.

The Western diet altered gene expression

The new research showed that just after just 1 month, there were changes throughout the bodies that are similar to the strong inflammation reactions that occur in bacterial infections. The researchers showed that an unhealthy high GI/highly refined diet led to increases in certain immune cells, which were a sign of inflammation and an infection like process. They also found that the Western diet had switched on many genes in the body that would also express many disease states and inflammatory processes in the body.

The researchers concluded that  findings highlight the dramatic impact that the wrong kind of food can have, and that they have important implications for society, especially for children who grow up with this highly inflammatory based diets and consume them longer.

The researchers concluded that adults and children have a choice of what they eat every day. We should enable everyone, especially children,  to make conscious decisions regarding their dietary habits. The new research also highlighted that dietary habits and the foundations of what a healthy diet is, need to become more prominent in our education system and it needs to start at a younger age. We also need to re-educate adults on what a healthy diet is as well

At my clinic, we can help people to know what a healthy diet is and this education is also passed onto people we help with inflammatory disease states.

We always promote a Primal/Low GI/grain free diet to all our patients so that they can be healthier, have less inflammation in their bodies and live longer and happier lives.

Regards

Dr Andrew Orr

-No Stone Left Unturned

-Women’s and Men’s Health Expert

01 Dr Andrew Orr 1

Posted in Chronic Disease, Diet and Nutrition, Fat Loss, Food additives, Genetics, Gut Health, Healthy Eating, Inflammation, Lifestyle, Microbiome, Weight Loss and tagged , , , , , .

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