How Fat Can Heal Immune System Problems

Health Nature Wellness

There are about 1.3 million Americans living with rheumatoid arthritis, a painful and crippling disease that is caused by the body’s own immune system. About 1% of the world’s population suffer from RA. It is an autoimmune disorder where the body’s own immune system attacks the joints, especially the hands, fingers.

RA is not only characterized by painful joints, but can also cause chronic fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, low-grade fevers and depression. A number of people with RA also tend to develop other medical complications including respiratory issues, eye inflammation, anemia, dry mouth and extra-articular symptoms such as nodules on the hands, feet, eyes, lungs and other organs.

Currently, there is no cure for RA. It is treated, depending on the severity, with diet, exercise, joint replacement, physical and occupational therapy, along with medications. In most cases, a person with RA has to continue to take the medications for the rest of their lives.

Vasculitis is also an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks and inflames the blood vessels. The inflammation can cause the blood vessels to narrow or close off or they can stretch and weaken causing an aneurysm.

Like RA, there is no known cure for vasculitis. It is treated with variety of medications, which like RA patients, have to be taking for the rest of their lives.

However, Australian researchers may have found a non-medication treatment that shows promise of actually curing these autoimmune disorders by rebooting the immune system using tiny fat bubbles, as reported:

The University of Queensland’s Professor Ranjeny Thomas said the research findings give hope for similar new immunotherapies for people with diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and vasculitis.

“People with these diseases currently require daily medications to modify or suppress their immune system,” she said.

“Rheumatoid arthritis and vasculitis have a huge impact on those living with them because there is no cure, and medication generally cannot be stopped.

“We think a better strategy would be to restore and re-regulate the specific part of the immune response that has gone wrong,” Professor Thomas said…

“We found that dendritic cells — conductors of the immune system orchestra — absorb tiny fat bubbles we generated, restoring immune regulation,” Professor Thomas said.

“These fat bubbles, called liposomes, held the key to rebooting the immune system and calming the disease process.

“This study shows in mice that antigen-specific immunotherapy can be used to treat existing inflammatory autoimmune diseases, as well as to prevent future disease.

“Importantly, it shows that inflammatory activity is not a barrier to restoring regulation in the immune system.”

People living with rheumatoid arthritis or vasculitis have rogue T-cells that attack the body’s own tissues, escaping the normal regulation that keeps these cells in check.

The antigen-specific liposome immunotherapy treatment helps restore immune cells to healthy function.

Just when so many people think of fat as being an evil enemy that destroys a healthy body, in fact it may turn out to be a life saver for millions of people if further research proves this research to be the ticket to rebooting the immune systems of people with these debilitating disorders.

Related Posts