The role of nutrition and gut health in the development of autoimmune disease is an exciting new field of investigation. Researchers initially targeted this area to understand why autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes were so prevalent in western countries.

One of the obvious differences is diet with people in western countries consuming more “fast” foods. In addition to the effects that this has on weight gain, a diet of highly processed food appears to reduce the quantity and quality of gut bacteria.

It has been known for a while that having a decent colony of “friendly” bacteria results in a healthy gut and a healthy body. Recent research by JDRF scientists in the US showed that animals raised without these friendly bacteria are significantly more susceptible to type 1 diabetes.

So how does this all connect? The researchers in this case have found that immune cells actually interact with the product of fibre digestion – a group of molecules called “short-chain fatty acids”. These molecules interact with the immune cells to create an anti-inflammatory effect, thus reducing or preventing an autoimmune response.

Whilst this research has been undertaken in mice and therefore not conclusively proven in humans, it is a pretty simple message to follow. Eat a healthy diet with plenty of unprocessed fruits, vegetables and grain products and you could be helping your body to resist the onset of type 1 diabetes.