I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect our main governing health agency—the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—to provide true, accurate and reliable information about the causes of death in the US. 

Too bad they’re failing miserably to do their jobs. 

I say that because there has been and continues to be a huge omission in the CDC’s statistics as they pertain to deaths and mortality, as well as a vast overstatement.   

As you would expect, heart disease continues to top the mortality chart, with about 695,000 deaths in 2021 (the most recent data year—they’re always a few years behind).  Cancer remains number two, with 605,000 deaths. 

The list continues by dramatically inflating COVID deaths by counting both deaths with—and of—COVID at 417,000 (the true death figure from COVID only is more like 25,000), accidents at 225,000, and while lower respiratory disease used to be next in line, they’ve now been replaced by strokes to the tune of 163,000. 

I’ll let you use your imagination on what might have caused that. 

But there is another type of disease that the CDC is completely mum on. 

Autoimmune diseases! 

Although autoimmune diseases don’t mean an immediate death sentence, they cause a whole lot of misery as they slowly rob your body of its normal functioning, severely impact your quality of life and eventually take it.  

Here’s the latest on this category of diseases that EVERYONE (especially the CDC) should be talking about! 

The prevalence is rising 

It is currently estimated that heart disease affects about 30 million Americans and cancer about 10 million. 

But autoimmune diseases affect a whopping 24 million people in the US!  And that number is suspected to be a low estimate due to limited epidemiology studies and could be more like 50 million.   

So why aren’t we hearing more about autoimmune diseases on the mainstream news every day? 

What exactly is autoimmunity? 

Here is the scoop on what autoimmunity is all about. 

Your immune system is everywhere in your body.  Although the majority of it (about 80 percent) is located in your gut, your immune cells cruise ALL through your body, looking for “invaders” such as a virus, infection or even cancer cells! 

When it detects an invader, it launches an attack and destroys the “enemy”—thereby protecting you and keeping you healthy! 

Well, with autoimmune diseases, your immune cells get confused.  They start to see your normal, healthy functioning cells, tissues and organs as a dangerous invader and launch their attack. 

As this continues over and over, chronic inflammation is created.  Eventually this causes great harm to your cells and organs and leads to impairment or loss of normal bodily functioning. 

From head to toe 

Since your immune system is everywhere in your body, autoimmune diseases can affect you from head to toe.  Here are some examples: 

• IBD (inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) 
• Rheumatoid arthritis 
• Type 1 diabetes 
• Multiple sclerosis  
• Lupus 
• Scleroderma (thickening and hardening of the skin) 
• Sjogren's syndrome (chronic dry eyes) 
• Graves' disease (overproduction of thyroid hormones) 
• Hashimoto's disease (underproduction of thyroid hormones) 
• Glomerulonephritis (kidney inflammation that can lead to kidney failure) 
• Guillain-Barre' syndrome (weakness, numbness and paralysis) 
• Psoriasis 

Researchers have identified between 80-100 different autoimmune diseases so far, and at least another 40 conditions are suspected as having an autoimmune component. 

Once you have an autoimmune disease, you are very likely to get another one.  That’s because once your immune system is hyper-stimulated, it very often continues its attacks in another one or more of your bodily systems.   

So why is this happening? 

You may wonder why someone’s immune system starts going haywire and attacking healthy cells. 

Because it’s taunted into doing so. 

When your immune system is “aggravated” and exposed to things that are or could be mistaken for a dangerous invader, it can be triggered into going overboard and launching an inflammatory reaction when it shouldn't. 

Here are some factors that could be stirring up your immune system: 

1) Reduced barriers 

Your body has many natural barriers that prevent dangerous molecules from seeping into your bloodstream. 

These include your saliva, stomach acid, bile, mucus and your microbiome.   

Lacking in any of these can open the door for real or perceived antigens to sneak through, get into your bloodstream and clang your immune system alarm. 

Think about this: Considering the astronomical number of people who regularly use antacids or acid reducers, that's a whole lot of people disabling one of their body's most important barriers and rolling out the red carpet for immune system problems. 

2) Leaky gut 

Having a gut wall that’s too porous (known as leaky gut or intestinal hyper-permeability) can allow harmful substances to enter your bloodstream and provoke your immune system. 

Leaky gut is commonly the result of poor digestion, but it can also be caused by:  

• Intestinal infections 
• Medications—especially NSAIDS, which are commonly prescribed for autoimmune disease pain!  
• Excessive alcohol use 
• Trauma 
• Aging  
• Stress 
• Harmful bacteria, parasites and yeast overgrowth 

3) Dysbiosis 

Dysbiosis is an intestinal environment where dangerous bacteria have the “upper hand” over the friendly, helpful bacteria in your gut microbiome. 

Numerous studies link dysbiosis to autoimmune diseases. 

4) Vaccines 

The theory behind most vaccines is to give you a small dose of a virus to “fool” your immune system into thinking you’re sick and trick it into developing antibodies to that virus.  This allegedly means you are then immune to that virus.  

But everyone’s system is different, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that certain people’s immune systems might not react as expected, and/or may overreact.    

With vaccines, viruses are injected into muscle tissue and make their way to the bloodstream—NOWHERE in Nature does this ever occur.  Instead, viruses are contracted through the eyes, skin, nose, mouth and bodily fluids and are acted upon through a complex multi-step process to create immunity.  It’s not unreasonable to expect that something could go wrong when we try to outsmart Nature. 

In addition, research suggests the adjuvants in vaccines—especially the toxic metal aluminum—as being a likely triggering factor behind autoimmunity.     

There has been a concurrent rise in autoimmune disease rates and the number of mandated vaccines and that’s no coincidence. 

5) Widespread vitamin D deficiency 

Vitamin D deficiency has now reached epidemic proportions, thanks to our exaggerated fears of the sun and slathering on sunscreen. 

Vitamin D helps calm excessive inflammatory actions of your immune system, so without its protective efforts, your immune system is more likely to “misbehave.” 

Help support sound immune function 

To help minimize your chances of facing autoimmune disease (or help fight back if you’ve got one) you can encourage your immune system to stay strong AND act appropriately by giving it help in these ways: 

Support a healthy gut microbiome 

Concentrate on gut-friendly foods like fresh vegetables and fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut.   

At the same time, stay away from processed and fast foods and especially refined sugars and grains, as they feed the harmful microbes in your gut.   

Plus probiotic supplementation with a potent, full-spectrum formula like Super Shield PLUS can help repopulate your supply of friendly intestinal microbes and support a healthier flora balance that can protect you as well as be a good home to your immune system. 

Ease inflammatory actions with vitamin D 

Supplementation with a quality vitamin D formula like Optimum DK Formula with FruiteX-B can go a long way in helping to counteract the overzealous inflammatory responses seen with autoimmune conditions.   

Also, reasonable (not excessive) exposure to sunlight without sunscreen will help your body naturally produce vitamin D.  Just 20 minutes is all it usually takes.   

Consider acupuncture 

Acupuncture has been shown to be extremely helpful in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, both to help curb the inflammation storm and to reduce pain. 

Carefully weigh the risks and benefits all medications, including vaccines 

Most medications, including vaccines, acid reducers and antibiotics, can affect your gut health and immune function.   

Read package inserts for all drugs and vaccines, use medications only if absolutely necessary, and talk to your doctor about natural alternatives.  If he or she is unwilling to discuss the matter with you, find another who will. 

Treat your immune system like the precious gold that it is and support its proper functioning.   

To your health, 

Sherry Brescia