Folate is an essential vitamin. It was originally isolated from spinach, and was named based on plant "foliage" being the primary natural source of the vitamin. Folate is now available in a variety of different forms, including a synthetic folic...
Sjögren's syndrome, or SS, is an immune disorder characterized by chronic inflammation in your salivary glands, tear ducts and mucous membranes. This inflammation interferes with the normal secretion of fluids and leads to dryness of the...
Stiffness in the hands and joints is probably related to a medical condition known as arthritis. Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints. Arthritis affects almost 19 million people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease...
Green tea is made from the Camellia sinensis plant, and according to the University of Maryland, contains powerful antioxidants called polyphenols. Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease, occurs when the body's immune system attacks itself....
Some nutritional problems and deficiencies can be diagnosed and monitored through simple procedures like a blood test. Depending on your condition, a blood test alone may be sufficient for a diagnosis, but for other conditions, more tests may be...
In autoimmune thyroid disease, your immune system produces antibodies that attack your thyroid tissue; these are known as autoantibodies. The mineral selenium helps promote healthy immune function, but a deficiency may affect autoantibody...
Cancer of the lung kills more people than any other type of cancer, and has been known to kill more people than prostate/colon/breast cancer combined. Although smoking cigarettes is a risk factor, many non-smokers have this deadly condition. Lung...
Diabetes is a disease in which insulin, the hormone that controls the body's metabolism of glucose, is either absent, not produced in sufficient amounts or not functioning properly. In diabetes type 1, the body does not produce enough insulin....
Rheumatoid factors are autoantibodies, or proteins produced by the body's immune system that may attack healthy tissue in the body. Health care professionals may test the levels of rheumatoid factors to determine if a specific disease is occurring...
The liver is an important organ involved in the storage of sugars for the body's energy use. It also helps the body get rid of waste products and toxins, and manufactures proteins important in the body's immune response. When the liver is damaged,...
Patients with autoimmune pancreatitis experience symptoms similar to pancreatitis; however, the symptoms are chronic and often less severe than those associated with acute pancreatitis. Symptoms of pancreatitis include nausea, vomiting, fever and...
TSH, or Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, is a hormone released by the pituitary gland in the brain. This hormone signals the thyroid gland, located in the front of the neck, to release two hormones, T3 and T4. Thyroid hormones help the body...
The thyroid produces a hormone called thyroxine, which affects every bodily system by signaling how fast or slow it should be working. Hyperthyroidism is a condition where the thyroid produces too much of this protein. MedlinePlus, an online...
Bread, cereal, pasta, cookies: what do these items have in common? They all contain gluten, a protein found in grains such as wheat, rye, barley and even oats. For people with celiac disease, a disease of the immune system, their small intestine...
When you are suffering with a thyroid disease, such as Hashimoto's disease, hypothyroidism or Grave's disease, your thyroid gland is not functioning properly. Certain foods, such as gluten-containing breads and baked goods, can negatively affect a...
Remicade, also known as infliximab, is an antibody developed against tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-A). TNF-A has been implicated in the inflammation pathway and the regulation of immune cells. Thus Remicade has been applied to a variety of...
More than a fad, gluten-free diets are a medical necessity for those with gluten intolerance, or Celiac disease. More than 2 million people in the United States have the disease, of which vomiting is sometimes a symptom, according to the National...
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks healthy tissue when an individual with the condition ingests gluten. The American Celiac Disease Alliance states that the intestinal inflammation and damage to intestinal villi...
TSH, or thyroid stimulating hormone, is produced by the pituitary gland. Its main function is to regulate the production of thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine by the thyroid gland. The thyroid hormones play an important role in...
If you have lupus, you know that your symptoms tend to come and go. Your symptoms -- including joint pain, muscle aches, fatigue, rashes, anemia, hair loss and more -- can flare up for an hour or a few months and then subside again. It's not...
Neural tube defects are the result of failed development of the brain and spinal cord during embryonic development. These defects include spina bifida (literally, open spine) and anencephaly (no head). A considerable number of human studies have...
Hypothyroidism, a thyroid hormone deficiency, affects as many as 10 percent of women and 6 percent of men over age 65, the Merck Manuals Online Medical Library reports, but can also occur in younger people. The disease is easier to recognize in...
Hashimoto's thyroiditis is the most common thyroid condition in America. Caused by an autoimmune disorder, thyroid cells that produce thyroid hormones are damaged. The disease can appear in tandem with adrenal insufficiency, a disease...
Hashimoto's disease, or Hashimoto's thyroiditis, is a chronic inflammation of your thyroid gland caused by the production of antibodies within your body that injure the cells of your thyroid, leading to hypothyroidism. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is...
If there were a perfect storm of food sensitivities it would be summarized in one condition, celiac disease. This is a condition where the body cannot tolerate gluten. Gluten is found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye, and contains a...
Large red bumps on your legs without excess collagen may be as simple as a case of hives. However, if you do produce too much collagen, these symptoms can belong to a group of diseases known collectively as scleroderma. All types of scleroderma...
Graves' disease, also known as thyroid eye disease, is a condition that stems from thyroid disease, occurring when a thyroid condition causes eye symptoms such as eye irritation, vision problems and bulging eyes. Controlling thyroid disease with...
Vitamin B-12, one of the many nutrients the body needs to function properly, is critical for the formation of red blood cells, metabolism and DNA synthesis. Vitamin B-12 is naturally present in some foods, added to some foods during manufacturing,...
Glutamic acid decarboxylase is an enzyme that is responsible for synthesizing an important inhibitory neurotransmitter in the body. Research has examined the link between an autoimmune response towards this enzyme and certain diseases. The...
