People with Autoimmune Disease Suffer from Micronutrient Deficiencies They Do Not Know They Have

People with autoimmune diseases often have unrecognised deficiencies and metabolic disorders. These include marginal micronutrient deficiencies that accumulate over time and lead to disease.

Many individuals with autoimmune diseases are unaware that their fatigue, low energy levels, chronic inflammation, pain, and fluid retention are due to marginal deficiencies and metabolic disturbances, which often go unnoticed for years and are challenging to detect.

After diagnosing an autoimmune disease, as the disease progresses, the metabolic disorders and deficiencies that led to its development become evident through symptoms that significantly impact the individual’s health and daily life. Targeted lab tests are necessary to accurately detect these deficiencies and metabolic disorders, essential for devising a comprehensive care plan ^[1-2].

Hidden Hunger & Autoimmune Diseases

"Hidden Hunger" refers to the marginal deficiency of micronutrients. It relates to the accumulated deficiencies of essential nutrients in the body, such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and others ^[3-6].

Hidden hunger is a primary factor in the development of autoimmune and chronic diseases, as deficiencies in micronutrients ^[2,3,7]:

• Disrupt the immune system's function
• Worsen inflammation
• Increase susceptibility to infections
• Exacerbate the progression of chronic diseases, including autoimmune, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, and respiratory illnesses.

Even though nutrient deficiencies are common, they often remain undetected. Vitamins and nutrients like vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, selenium, and probiotics play a crucial role in the normal regulation of the immune system.

These marginal nutrient deficiencies may go unnoticed for years and surface only once disease appears. Given the multifactorial nature of disease, linking it to one specific nutrient is uncommon.

An increasing number of studies connect nutrient deficiencies with chronic diseases.

Examples include:

• Hashimoto's disease and thyroid diseases: selenium, chromium, vitamin D, zinc.
• Psoriasis: vitamin D, omega-3.
• Rheumatoid arthritis: vitamin D.
• Allergies, asthma: dehydration, magnesium, minerals, omega-3.
• Diabetes: vitamin D, magnesium, chromium.
• Multiple sclerosis: vitamin D, heavy metals, essential amino acids, alteration of gut microbiota.
• Colitis and inflammatory bowel diseases: alteration of gut microbiota.

These deficiencies are associated with the overactivity of the immune system, which produces antibodies and attacks tissues it shouldn't.

Why Common Checkups Usually Don't Reflect Patients' Problems

Patients diagnosed with autoimmune diseases typically undergo common lab tests, imaging tests (ultrasound, X-ray, MRI), and sometimes biopsies. These tests contribute to the disease diagnosis and determination of appropriate medication.

However, they typically fail to identify problems explaining fatigue, weight management difficulties, chronic inflammation, poor gastrointestinal function, and low energy levels experienced by patients. So, inevitably, they do not lead to effective management of these issues.

Efforts to improve health often fail because they rely on generic guidance that ignores the individual’s metabolic status, lifestyle, diet, and habits. Patients therefore continue to struggle and keep searching for solutions to improve their health.

This is because deficiencies and metabolic disruptions, not easily detected with common checkups, go unnoticed for many years.

Identifying and correcting these deficiencies are essential in autoimmune care.

Autoimmune diseases have a significant metabolic background. The most critical metabolic disorders associated with their development and progression include slow metabolism, deficiencies in micronutrients, insulin resistance, disruption in the body's ability to manage chronic inflammation, and alteration of the microbial flora.

To substantially improve the health of individuals with autoimmunity, care plans should include, alongside appropriate medication, the identification and correction of deficiencies and metabolic dysfunctions.

As marginal micronutrient deficiencies and metabolic dysfunctions worsen over years and contribute to disease, their correction requires time and sustained effort.

Otherwise, if these deficiencies and metabolic disturbances involved in the disease development are not managed, the disease progresses with steady and gradual worsening through exacerbations and remissions, burdening the individual’s daily life and health condition.

Targeted Lab Tests That Redefine Care for Individuals with Autoimmune Diseases

Identifying and correcting deficiencies and metabolic dysfunction requires comprehensive lab testing that looks at the entire biology of an individual. These tests reveal the factors linked with the course and manifestation of autoimmune diseases.

Many of these tests are uncommon in standard healthcare. Advanced panels are needed to accurately detect deficiencies and metabolic disorders in people with chronic conditions.

This type of analysis is not comparable to routine checkups. These are highly specialised and far more comprehensive tests, usually performed only in select private clinics at very high prices. Kyma is among the few companies nationwide that offer this level of comprehensive, advanced lab testing by partnering with leading, certified partner labs such as Randox Health.

These specialised tests detect over 90+ indicators concerning ^[1,2,6-12]:

• Micronutrient Deficiencies: Lack of vitamin D, vitamin C, selenium, zinc, antioxidants, and omega-3s are linked to impaired immune system function, inflammation, and the health status of patients with Hashimoto's.
• Difficulty in Metabolising Simple Sugars: Excessive consumption of simple sugars beyond what the body can metabolise triggers inflammation and is a significant indicator of the disease's progression.
• Insulin Resistance: Elevated insulin levels disrupt immune system function, worsen autoimmunity, and accelerate gland destruction.
• Fatty Acid Metabolism: The ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids is a crucial indicator of the body's ability to manage inflammation and regulate the immune system's normal response.
• State of the Microbiome: Alteration of the microbiome is linked to impaired immune system function and the ability to distinguish between its own tissues and external elements, such as pathogens and viruses.
• Thyroid Antibodies: Elevated anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) and anti-thyroglobulin (anti-TG) antibodies reflect autoimmune activity and correlate with disease severity and progression risk.

These analyses provide a comprehensive view of an individual’s health status. They identify indicators linked to low energy, gastrointestinal dysfunction, difficulty with weight management, chronic inflammation, and mood swings in patients with autoimmune diseases.Our scientific team evaluates the results to formulate a personalized health plan for each member.Until recently, accurately documenting individual deficiencies was difficult with traditional methods, so correction relied on general guidelines. With Kyma, we provide a highly comprehensive and accurate picture of an individual’s health status.

Based on our team’s clinical experience of over 30+ years, interventions in lifestyle, correction of deficiencies, and diet based on the results of advanced lab testing result in:

• Improvement in the disease's course, halting further destruction of the organ targeted by the immune system.
• In most cases, there is a reduction in the levels of autoantibodies, as in Hashimoto's disease, myasthenia gravis, lupus, etc.
• Decrease in the feeling of fatigue and increase in energy levels.
• Reduction of inflammation and pain.
• Improvement in gastrointestinal function.
• Improvement in mood and reduction of intense emotional fluctuations associated with autoimmune diseases.
• Better response to medical treatment.

It usually takes 6-8 months to achieve a significant change, one year to stabilise the body at a better functional level, and about two years to achieve optimal results.

Our clinical experience has shown that correcting deficiencies in vitamins and other elements and restoring metabolic disturbances improve the body's ability to manage inflammation, accelerate healing processes, and reduce symptoms like pain, chronic fatigue, and low energy levels experienced by individuals with autoimmune diseases.

Prompt intervention to restore these aspects is vital for improving quality of life and achieving steady progress in managing their condition.

Bibliographic References

_{[1] Prediction of Autoimmune Diseases by Targeted Metabolomic Assay of Urinary Organic Acids. Dimitris Tsoukalas et al. Metabolites. 2020 Dec 8.}

_{[2] Targeted Metabolomic Analysis of Serum Fatty Acids for the Prediction of Autoimmune Diseases. Dimitris Tsoukalas, Vasileios Fragoulakis, Evangelia Sarandi et. al. Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, Metabolomics (6), 2019, November.}

_{[3] Transforming the food system to fight non-communicable diseases. Francesco Branca et. al.  BMJ 2019.}

_{[4] Micronutrient deficiencies in patients with COVID-19: how metabolomics can contribute to their prevention and replenishment. Dimitris Tsoukalas and Evangelia Sarandi. BMJ Nutri Prev Heal. Nov. 2020; bmjnph-2020-000169}

_{[5] McAuliffe S, Ray S, Fallon E, et al. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2020;0}

_{[6] Hidden Hunger in the Developed World. Biesalski HK. The Road to Good Nutrition. Basel, Karger, 2013, pp 39–50 https://doi.org/10.1159/000355992}

_{[7] Nutritional Modulation of Immune Function: Analysis of Evidence, Mechanisms, and Clinical RelevanceWu D, Lewis ED, Pae M, Meydani SN.. Front Immunol. 2019;9:3160}

_{[8] Non-communicable Diseases in the Era of Precision Medicine: An Overview of the Causing Factors and Prospects.Dimitris Tsoukalas, Evangelia Sarandi et. al. Bio#Futures. Springer, Cham. May 2021.}

_{[9] Dietary factors in rheumatic autoimmune diseases: a recipe for therapy? Shani Dahan, Yahel Segal1 and Yehuda Shoenfeld. NATURE REVIEWS | RHEUMATOLOGY. 13 Apr 2017.}

_{[10] Application of metabolomics in autoimmune diseases: Insight into biomarkers and pathology. J. Kang et al. / Journal of Neuroimmunology 279 (2015) 25–32}

_{[11] Metabolic syndrome, autoimmunity and rheumatic diseases. GabrielaMedina et. al. Pharmacological Research Volume, July 2018.}

_{[12] Dietary factors in rheumatic autoimmune diseases: a recipe for therapy? Shani Dahan, Yahel Segal1 and Yehuda Shoenfeld. NATURE REVIEWS | RHEUMATOLOGY. 13 Apr 2017.}

_{[13] Application of metabolomics in autoimmune diseases: Insight into biomarkers and pathology. J. Kang et al. / Journal of Neuroimmunology 279 (2015) 25–32}

_{[14] Environmental Exposures and Autoimmune Diseases: Contribution of Gut Microbiome M. Firoze Khan and Hui Wang. Front. Immunol., 10 January 2020}

_{[15] Micronutrients in autoimmune diseases: possible therapeutic benefits of zinc and vitamin D. IngaWessels, LotharRink. Elsevier, The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. March 2020.}