JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Strap on the helmet and pull on the lycra – the Ride to Cure Diabetes is on again in January 2010. JDRF’s annual cycling event covers the best of the picturesque Barossa Valley with three courses of 35, 80 or 160kms.

Last year the Ride to Cure Diabetes raised over $1.3 million in critical funds for Australian research in type 1 diabetes. Those results are expected to be matched in 2010, with up to 350 Riders expected to don helmets and lycra to support the cause.

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Put simply, the hygiene hypothesis refers to the idea that our decreasing interaction with infectious bugs and germs may leave result in some people becoming more susceptible to autoimmune attacks. As the term suggests, it is a hypothesis or idea that has been investigated by diabetes researchers since the early 1990’s.

Over time, scientists have broken the hypothesis down into two primary parts. The first involves our declining relationships with certain types of bacteria. A nice big colony of friendly gut bacteria helps keep our immune system in check. As our diets and lifestyles change, we are losing our healthy tummies and increasing our risk of developing autoimmune diseases.

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Breakthrough research by a Sydney-based research team has shown that the amount of dietary fibre in the diet plays a fundamental role in keeping the immune system healthy and autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes at bay.

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.

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