Too much salt may trigger autoimmune diseases
Source: Agencies |
March 8, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
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INCREASED salt consumption may be a key culprit behind rising rates of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, researchers reported in a trio of papers looking at the role of a specific class of cells linked with inflammation.
The researchers said high-salt diets increased levels of a type of immune cell linked with autoimmune disease. And mice genetically engineered to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) got much worse when they ate what amounted to a high-salt Western diet compared with mice who had more moderate salt intake.
The findings suggest that salt may play a previously unknown role in triggering autoimmune diseases such as MS or type 1 diabetes in individuals who are already genetically predisposed.
"It's not bad genes. It's not bad environment. It's a bad interaction between genes and the environment," said David Hafler, a professor of immunobiology at Yale University in New Haven and senior author of one of the three papers.
The new study implicates high-salt diets in increasing rates of autoimmune disease. "It can't be just salt. We know vitamin D probably plays a small component. We know smoking is a risk factor. This now suggests that salt is also a risk factor," Hafler said.
The researchers studied the link between salt and autoimmunity through studies of the gut microbiome, a census of gut microbes and cell function of 100 healthy individuals.
The team noticed that when people in the study visited fast food restaurants more than once a week, they saw a marked increase in levels of destructive inflammatory cells, which the immune system produces to respond to injury or foreign invaders, but which attack healthy tissues in autoimmune diseases.
Hafler says the findings now need to be studied in people. He has already gotten permission to test the effects of lowering the salt intake in the diets of individuals with multiple sclerosis to see if their symptoms improve.
The researchers said high-salt diets increased levels of a type of immune cell linked with autoimmune disease. And mice genetically engineered to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) got much worse when they ate what amounted to a high-salt Western diet compared with mice who had more moderate salt intake.
The findings suggest that salt may play a previously unknown role in triggering autoimmune diseases such as MS or type 1 diabetes in individuals who are already genetically predisposed.
"It's not bad genes. It's not bad environment. It's a bad interaction between genes and the environment," said David Hafler, a professor of immunobiology at Yale University in New Haven and senior author of one of the three papers.
The new study implicates high-salt diets in increasing rates of autoimmune disease. "It can't be just salt. We know vitamin D probably plays a small component. We know smoking is a risk factor. This now suggests that salt is also a risk factor," Hafler said.
The researchers studied the link between salt and autoimmunity through studies of the gut microbiome, a census of gut microbes and cell function of 100 healthy individuals.
The team noticed that when people in the study visited fast food restaurants more than once a week, they saw a marked increase in levels of destructive inflammatory cells, which the immune system produces to respond to injury or foreign invaders, but which attack healthy tissues in autoimmune diseases.
Hafler says the findings now need to be studied in people. He has already gotten permission to test the effects of lowering the salt intake in the diets of individuals with multiple sclerosis to see if their symptoms improve.
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