Wed, Jul-08-09, 08:04
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Registered Member
Posts: 60
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Plan: Paleo
Stats: 232/219/200
BF:
Progress:
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Rejoinder to Hutchinson
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we all have less circulating D3 levels and more chronic inflammatory conditions than we did just 15 yrs ago.
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Sorry, I thought you were arguing that low vitamin D levels cause inflammation which causes disease.
I accept the modern diet increases inflammation. It's likely true that total daily vitamin D from sun plus pills of at least at least 15,000 IU/ day suppresses the immune system which reduces inflammation. That may or may not be a good thing. Like most processes in the body immune activation, ('inflammation') is performing a useful purpose in most people. It may be that inflamation is what's keeping a low level infection in check.
Here is an interview with evolutionary biologist Paul Ewald
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While we’re on the subject of cancer, it and heart disease are now considered to be inflammatory diseases. Wouldn’t the presence of inflammation be a red flag that pathogens are to blame?
Yes. And the immediate questions researchers should be asking is “What causes inflammation?” One thing that we clearly know causes inflammation is the presence of an infection. So, as soon as I hear the word inflammation I think, “What infectious agents are at play?”
That brings us to the concept of autoimmune disease – the idea that the immune system just “goes crazy.” I think the fact that the concept of autoimmunity was developed in the first place is largely related to the fact that our brains have not evolved to think scientifically. People who have studied disease from their own point of view have recognized that the immune system is extremely important. But as we’ve learned more about the immune system, we’ve realized that it is an extremely complicated system – as complicated as the brain. Just like we can’t look at one type of neuron and infer information about the entire brain, we can’t try to understand the characteristics of only some immune cells and think we understand immune function.
So, over the years, as researchers have been daunted by the complexity of the immune system, it has seemed logical that such a complex entity has the potential to go wrong. Because they are limited by the power of their brains, they tend to simplify the issue and view the immune system in the same way they would view a truck that could break down. There are two problems with this type of thinking. For starters, we can’t trust our intuition that something complex is likely to malfunction. The fact is, the immune system functions just fine in a large proportion of the population. The only logical way to explain the immune activation seen in patients with “autoimmune disease” is to suggest that there is some sort of agent pushing the immune system off balance. This argument is only strengthened by the fact that the same evolutionary forces that would cause a serious disease to be weeded from the population would also cause those people whose immune systems are prone to self-destruction to be eliminated from the population.
The concept of autoimmune disease has progressed to the point that now even researchers who previously dismissed the possibility of infection are accepting the possibility that “autoimmune” disease could be triggered by infection. This is some progress, but it’s not enough. Especially since the concept of autoimmunity encourages doctors to prescribe immunosuppressive steroids to patients. But if persistent infection is involved these steroids may exacerbate the fire by allowing pathogens to spread.
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Low carb eating is the best way - the natural way - to ensure immune activation/inflamation is modulated to the necessary intensity. Chronic inflammatory conditions are likely the body's defences in action against sub-clinical infections. You might feel better for a while by suppressing your own defences with vitamin D but - like disabling your firewall to get the PC running better - you're storing up trouble.
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