How can food and bacteria in the gut trigger autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and some thyroid diseases?

In Functional Medicine, we believe that reactions to food involve a different type of antibody called IgG, and cellular immune responses to food and other substances are related to a number of autoimmune inflammatory responses.

When we eat, the hydrochloric acid in our stomach along with enzymes from our pancreas and bile help to break foods down into smaller fragments or building blocks that the body can use as fuel or to build new cells.

If we lose our stomach acid due to aging or by taking acid blocking medicines, or if our pancreas or liver are not producing sufficient enzyme bile, then digestion may be incomplete.

When this happens bigger pieces of molecules from food can find their way into the blood stream. As the fragments circulate, the body may not recognize them and will then make antibodies because it considers them to be foreign intruders.

If the fragments happen to have chemical structure in common with proteins in the body itself, then those antibodies will not only attack the fragments floating in the bloodstream but any tissues that look like them as well.

And if the proteins they look like resemble membranes in the thyroid gland, you can get autoimmune thyroid disease.

If they look like part of your joint membranes, you can get rheumatoid arthritis. This is called molecular mimicry, and these processes can lead to serious inflammatory problems.