New Science: Fat Triggers Immune Response | Arthritis Information

It could explain why I felt so much better when I was pregnant.  For some reason, anything that had the least little bit of fat in it triggered morning sickness.  I rarely at meat, no chocolate etc.  I could only eat fat free things or low fat because otherwise I would be in the bathroom.  The RD said that pregnant women with RA can have improved condition but I wonder, after reading this article, if not being able to eat anything with fat had something to do with it. 

Thanks for the info.

I am really fascinated by all of this, and feel like this is one of the core issues in human mortality.  What triggers an immune response, and what determines what that immune response will be.  Is cancer another form of auto immune disease?  Certainly seems like it - and there are known carcinogens which are believed to set the ball in motion for certain cancers.  Cardiovascular disease is also believed by many to be caused by the body's reaction to inflammation in the arteries.  A high Anti-CCP indicates a high risk of a future heart attack.  A high cholesteral level in the blood may be the factor causing inflammation in the arteries, but it certainly isn't the only one.

So we might decide that many diseases are caused by our own body's reaction, or over-reaction to a trigger.  Perhaps it is like allergies, where different people over-react to different outside factors.  Certainly bacteria may be one trigger, but is it the only one?  Who knows?  Exposure to bacteria often builds up a positive immune response in many cases, where the body learns to deal with that "invader" and no longer reacts to it?  Can we train T-cells to react appropriately without shutting down the immune system entirely?

And then we have the case of children born with JRA.  Was it something they were exposed to in-utero that caused the problem, or was it their bodies first reaction to food, or something else in the environment. 

We also have to acknowledge the strong genetic component here.  Diseases run in families.  Not just auto-immune diseases, but those not traditionally thought of as auto-immune.  Is this because our bodies are genetically programmed to react in a certain way?

Lot's of questions and no simple answers.  I think if we can ever figure this out, we will have figured out the single most important health factor of all time.