Suppression
of the Autoimmune Disease Lupus: Krill
Oil Shows Positive Benefits.
What
is Lupus:
Lupus foundation of America states
that “lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect various parts of
the body, especially the skin, joints, blood, and kidneys.”
Currently there are 4 different types of lupus each
representing a particular type of autoimmune disease and can be recognized by
different characteristics. Lupus usually
develops between the ages of 15-35, and surprisingly more than 90% of those who
have lupus are women.
There are several similarities between lupus and other
autoimmune diseases. One of the most
important and widely recognized is that the immune system misinterprets the
components of the body as foreign bacteria or viruses and works aggressively to
attack and eliminate them. The body begins to develop antibodies against
itself, and immune cells expel toxic materials causing annihilation of the body’s
organs and tissues.
In this case lupus causes chronic inflammation of the
skin, blood vessels, joints, kidneys, and other tissues. This chronic inflammation causes those with
lupus to have a difficult life quality due to periodic flare-ups followed by
periods of remission. The severity of
lupus can range from mild to life threatening.
There is currently no cure and medical treatment involves lowering the
immune system to prevent lupus from attacking the body.
Benefits
of Krill Oil potential to suppress Lupus:
In 1994 Lipids recorded a
research on hybrid New Zealand female mice fed a diet rich in omega-3 fish oils
versus omega-6 corn oil. The research
showed delayed development of autoimmune lupus nephritis and longer life
span. A current study was also done to
explore the possible positive effects of krill oil as a beneficial source of
omega-3 lipids.
The research learned from the study indicated that
dietary intake of Krill Oil controls expression of TGFbeta in an organ specific
manner. In the spleen, TGFbeta could be
immunosuppressive, whereas its appearance in the kidney may be pathological and
pro-inflammatory. In conclusion dietary
krill oil, like fish oil can suppress the development of autoimmune murine
lupus, and its effects on inflammatory moderators are organ specific. The largest benefit that was understood was
that krill oil, unlike fish oil works directly and rapidly with the body’s
cells. This proves very beneficial when
dealing with onset lupus or any autoimmune disease.
www.vitalhp.com
