An autoimmune disease is when your body’s natural defense system malfunctions and begins attacking normal tissue and organ cells. As a result, symptoms like fatigue, skin problems, digestive issues, swollen glands, and joint pain ranging from mild-to-severe may occur.

Some common diagnoses are rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, psoriasis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, type I diabetes, and thyroid diseases. While estimates of autoimmune disease prevalence err in providing an accurate snapshot of those affected by it–failing to capture those who are misdiagnosed or undiagnosed–there is evidence that autoimmune diseases are on the rise, with marked increases in Western countries.

The question of whether or not autoimmune diseases are hereditary has brought about decades of lengthy research and debate in the medical community. The presence of different autoimmune disorders throughout families gives the impression that genetics are to blame, and as a result, many doctors and researchers default to this line of thinking.

This idea that autoimmune disorders are “passed down” from your parents attaches a component of inevitability onto these diseases, reducing patients to mere products of their family history. “If your parents have an autoimmune disorder, it’s only a matter of time until you get it too!”

With autoimmune disorders disproportionately increasing in industrialized countries, though, the genetic theory is incomplete at best. Recent research is now understanding of the role our choices and our environment plays in autoimmune disease manifestation.

In a 2015 study, researchers linked the expansion of industrialized processed food to the rising incidence of autoimmune disorders. They found that inflammatory food additives such as sugars, salts, emulsifiers, and gluten are damaging to the intestinal mucosa, which is essential to the immunity balance that works to prevent autoimmune diseases³. Prior viral or bacterial infections and high-stress lifestyles have also been associated with the presence of autoimmune disorders.

Long story short, you are not “doomed” to your genes when it comes to autoimmune disorders.

So how does one go about maintaining or reclaiming their health? Eliminating environmental triggers such as inflammatory foods, toxins and stressors from your life. Adding yoga, meditation, restful sleep and supplements into your daily routine.