Page 1 - Autoimmune Diseases Around the World

Autoimmune Diseases Around the World

Submitted by the International Autoimmune Institute & Bingham Memorial Center for
Functional Medicine

Autoimmune disease is recognized as a major health crisis in the United States. Today, 50
million Americans—80 percent of whom are women—suffer one or more autoimmune
conditions. Thirty years ago, only one in 400 people developed an autoimmune disease. Today,
one in 12 Americans—one in nine women—have an autoimmune disease. More women are
diagnosed each year with an autoimmune disease than breast cancer and cardiovascular disease
combined.

David J. Bilstrom, MD—the Director of the International Autoimmune Institute & Bingham
Memorial Center for Functional Medicine—explores the question: do people in other parts of the
world get the same autoimmune diseases as Americans, and if so, why?

What is an autoimmune disease?
It’s a condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own tissue. Some of
the more common conditions include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis,
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, type 1 diabetes, and ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, but the
National Institutes of Health estimates there are more than 100 types of autoimmune diseases.

Autoimmune diseases around the world
As parts of the world where countries have become more industrialized, there’s been a great deal
of change in economics, environmental factors, the way people eat (and the types of food people
eat), as well as changes in toxicity levels. As such, Europeans and Scandinavians already have
the same rates as Americans. People from developing nations such as in Asia and Southeast Asia
are also developing the same rates of autoimmune disease as Americans.

Economic and environmental changes
In Asia and Southeast Asia, autoimmune disease was almost unheard of a couple of decades ago.
Because of the changing economic system in those countries, they now have the disposable
income that allows them to travel further away from home. With the changes in those economics
comes some unwanted changes, such as change in the types of food they eat, and the quality of
food, as well as some of the environmental changes like increasing levels of toxicity being
released.

“I’m sure many people have seen pictures of Beijing, China, and all of the smog, and all of the
people wearing surgical masks,” says Dr. Bilstrom. “We also see those kinds of images coming
from a lot of other larger cities in Asia and Southeast Asia, whether it’s Beijing, Tokyo, Kuala
Lumpur, Bombay, or Bangkok.”

Changes in the foods we eat
“The example I like to give about local eating habits is that my wife, Jody, and I were fortunate
enough to travel to Thailand two decades ago,” says Dr. Bilstrom. “While we were there, we
would try to eat in the ‘mom and pop’ shops—tiny little places right on the street with fantastic