Best of: When the body fights

This is the summer vacation, also for our author. That's why we publish a few articles for a week, which gave a lot of topics for discussion. This article was published on April 20, 2018.

A cut, a slight sunburn, a harmless insect bite: In fact, an inflammation that may result is not a disease, but the response of the 39, organism to external damage. With the immune response, the body tries to eliminate the cause of whatever nature and to repair the "damage". "In acute inflammation, the five known inflammatory symptoms such as redness, overheating, pain, swelling, and functional limitations present themselves as the body's own defense against certain harmful stimuli," Phillip explains. Katumba, specialist in internal medicine FMH

However, in case of chronic inflammation, various causes such as infections, deposits and allergies can result in a sustained fire of inflammatory defense reactions in the tissue . More and more studies show that many chronic diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis or certain intestinal diseases can be attributed to autoimmune processes (autoimmune diseases)

The cause is a predisposition genetics associated with stress, hormonal changes or infections. ) as a trigger. "What's exciting is that in the most recent studies we see that changing our intestinal flora can promote the development of autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, through our eating habits." "says Phillip Katumba. "In the group of autoimmune diseases, there is a disruption of the immune system, the body almost fights itself."

The female immune system tends to overreact

In recent years it has been shown that more and more autoimmune diseases are affected. About 5 times more women than men suffer from Hashimoto's thyroiditis. In multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, the proportion of women to men is about 3: 1. Why is it?

"Hormonal changes, such as menopause, are considered to play a major role in the development of these conditions," says Katumba. "The immune system of women seems to be much more active and sometimes subject to overreaction, which can bring benefits as well as disadvantages."

Treatment and Prevention

The specter of how these chronic diseases should be treated is great. "For some diseases, conventional medical treatment is necessary, others succeed very well with complementary therapeutic concepts."

For Phillip Katumba, it is important to understand a disease holistically and to create a differentiated concept of clarification and treatment. should be considered. In addition to the body and the psyche, this also includes the patient's social environment. Numerous scientific studies clearly show that fasting diets have clearly positive effects in the prevention of many chronic diseases.

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