There’s something uniquely frightening about autoimmune disorders, diseases that occur when the body attacks itself. But there’s increasing evidence t

Source (HealthNewsdigest.com) - Multiple sclerosis. Lupus. Type 1 Diabetes. What links these three afflictions, which exact a devastating toll on people who would otherwise be in the prime of their lives? They are all autoimmune diseases, and the 23.5 million Americans who suffer from these and nearly a hundred other chronic autoimmune illnesses signal a frightening trend. In

THE AUTOIMMUNE EPIDEMIC: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance—And the Cutting Edge Science That Promises Hope (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; February 5, 2008; $25.00/hardcover; 0-7432-7775-9), author and lecturer Donna Jackson Nakazawa—herself afflicted with several autoimmune diseases—sounds a call to arms, taking readers inside today’s most prestigious scientific labs to show how “autogens” (heavy metals, toxins, pesticides, viruses, and everyday chemicals that can play a role in triggering autoimmunity) are putting an often unbearable load on the human immune system.

THE AUTOIMMUNE EPIDEMIC combines up-to-the-minute research from leading universities and hospitals, including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, and the National Institutes of Health, with the frontline perspective of Nakazawa and other autoimmune sufferers to explore vital topics including:What role chemicals, heavy metals, viruses, diet, and genes play in developing autoimmune disease The connection between autoimmune disease and allergies, the rates of which are likewise skyrocketing The disturbing fact that 75% of autoimmune sufferers are women—and one in nine women will be afflicted with these diseases Ways in which readers can lessen the multitude of exposures that threaten their immune systems and their overall health Why scientists now believe that even people who are not genetically predisposed to autoimmunity may fall ill The groundbreaking interventions from today’s top labs that promise to help halt the disease process THE AUTOIMMUNE EPIDEMIC calls for a halt in the proliferation of these debilitating, and often fatal, diseases—and provides the knowledge and the means to make a difference. As Dr. Douglas Kerr, director of the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center states in the book’s foreword, “Reading The Autoimmune Epidemic is a necessary first step. Reading The Autoimmune Epidemic is a life-altering event. It needs to be.”ABOUT THE AUTHORDonna Jackson Nakazawa is an author and lecturer who specializes in family life and health issues. She has contributed to Parade and AARP The Magazine, and has appeared on ABC News and NPR radio. Nakazawa is also the author of Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? She lives in Maryland with her family

For more information on autoimmune diseases visit www.aarda.org