Autoimmune Diseases Explanations

Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body actually attacks its own cells. The immune system mistakes some part of the body as a pathogen and attacks it. This may be restricted to certain organs (e.g. in chagas disease or involve a particular tissue in different places (e.g. Goodpasture's disease which may affect the basement membrane in both the lung and the kidney).

According to T. Colin Campbell in his book The China Study, chapter 9, one of the main cause for autoimmune diseases lies in our diet: Molecular mimicry between some animal and human proteins may cause the immune system (the white blood cells) to attack our own cells. In particular, Campbell mentions the inability of some persons' digestive system to fully break down cow's milk into amino acids. The remnants of these proteins are treated as foreign invader antigens by the immune system, which may then turn against other forms of closely similar proteins in our own body

Name        Accepted or Suspected
Ankylosing Spondylitis    Accepted
Chagas disease    Suspected
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease   Suspected
Crohns Disease    Accepted
Dermatomyositis    Accepted
Diabetes mellitus type 1    Accepted
Endometriosis    Suspected
Goodpasture's syndrome    Accepted
Graves' disease    Accepted
Guillain-Barré syndrome           Accepted
Hashimoto's disease    Accepted
Hidradenitis suppurativa    Suspected
Kawasaki disease    Suspected
IgA nephropathy    Suspected
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura Accepted
Interstitial cystitis    Suspected
Lupus erythematosus    Accepted
Mixed Connective Tissue Disease Accepted
Morphea    Suspected
Multiple Sclerosis    Accepted
Myasthenia gravis    Accepted
Narcolepsy    Accepted
Neuromyotonia    Suspected
Pemphigus vulgaris    Accepted
Pernicious anaemia    Accepted
Psoriasis            Accepted
Psoriatic Arthritis    Accepted
Polymyositis    Accepted
Primary biliary cirrhosis    Accepted
Relapsing polychondritis    Accepted
Rheumatoid arthritis    Accepted
Sarcoidosis    Suspected
Schizophrenia    Suspected
Scleroderma    Suspected
Sjögren's syndrome    Accepted
Stiff person syndrome    Suspected
Temporal arteritis    Accepted
Ulcerative Colitis    Accepted
Vasculitis            Accepted
Vitiligo            Suspected
Wegener's granulomatosis    Accepted