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Health knowledge made personal
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Health knowledge made personal
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Anarticlepublished on Medical News Today, described an exciting new study in cooperation with universities from Finland, Russia, Estonia, Netherlands, and Germany, and coordinated by University of Helsinki. The study will attempt to explain an apparent link between standards of living and increased autoimmune disease. An earlier study compared two groups of school aged children - one group in Finland, the other in Russian Karelia. While HLA gene variants, which predispose people to autoimmune disease, remained equal in both groups of children, type 1 diabetes was six times higher and celiac disease five times higher in the Finnish children, who experience a higher standard of living than the Karelian children. (Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease are both autoimmune diseases). The Karelian children were also exposed to many more infections: This earlier study concluded that a decrease in infection load contributes to increased autoimmune diseases. The new study will continue to examine the potential link between infectious disease and and the development of the immune system. Several unanswered questions remain in this link. What infectious agents can affect autoimmune disease development? Does the normal bacteria living in our intestines affect our immunity? Does nutrition in childhood impact normal maturation of the immune system? The research project, named DIABIMMUNE, will collect data from 2008-2013. |
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