The Bad Habit Causing Lupus
All autoimmune diseases are on the rise—but lupus is one of the worst.
When the condition strikes, your immune system starts to attack healthy tissues.
Lupus cases have increased by 60 percent in women and have increased six-fold in men over the past four decades.
What’s driving this dramatic increase? Well, we might have found the answer.
It’s something that researchers say could increase lupus risk by a stunning 50 percent.
Processed foods are convenient… I’ll give you that. But that’s about all they’re good for.
These fake foods increase your risk of every health problem you can think of—including heart disease, depression, cognitive decline, weight gain, and cancer.
But now we can add lupus to this list.
Researchers tracked women for 25 years. Those who ate the most ultra-processed foods had 50 percent higher rates of lupus compared to those who consumed the least.
These fake foods increase systemic inflammation, cause oxidative stress, lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, alter gut microbes, trigger epigenetic changes, and influence immune function.
So, what exactly is an ultra-processed food?
It’s basically anything you’ll find in the center section of your grocery store. Cookies, bread, instant soup, ice cream, breakfast cereal, canned food, boxed food… you get the picture. Oh, and of course, just about anything you get at a fast-food joint.
And that’s a big problem because these foods make up the majority of most Americans’ diets—57 percent of the average calorie intake, to be exact.
You might not notice what ultra-processed food is doing to your body now, but you won’t escape its cumulative effects in the future.
Whether you’re concerned about a condition like lupus or not, cutting these non-foods out of your diet will benefit your health.
P.S. DEATH by ultra-processed foods?!
SOURCE:
Sinara Rossato PhD, MSc, Emily G. Oakes BA, Medha Barbhaiya MD, MPH, et al., Ultra-Processed Food Intake and Risk of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus among Women followed in the Nurses’ Health Study Cohorts, Arthritis Care & Research, First published: 27 June 2024, [doi. org/10.1002/acr.25395]
