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Linking Gut Health and Arthritis

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  By Dr. Sonja Fung, ND We all know how debilitating arthritis is in our life. It can be things like the inability to put on a shirt up to the inability to walk. But did you know that your digestive health can be a critical factor in the treatment of arthritis? Maintaining digestive health is key to the health of your body. Your intestines make up 70% of your immune system called GALT- Gut associated lymphatic tissue. For example, infection activates your immune system à intestinal immune cells present pieces of foreign cells to tell the rest of your body which cells to destroy à all your immune cells find and destroy the foreign cells à your body gets better and keeps you from getting sick next time. This is the normal function of your immune system. The question is, what happens when gut immunity breaks down? Intestinal inflammation causes a disruption of the integrity of your intestinal lining, thus allowing foreign cells and proteins to slip