The Role of Salt for Autoimmune Disease Exact Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Review

An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a normal body part. In recent decades’ scientists have observed a steady rise in the incidence of autoimmune diseases in the world. Since this increase cannot be explained solely by genetic factors, researchers hypothesize that the sharp increase in these diseases is linked to environmental factors. Recent studies provided evidencefor an impact of dietary habits on the immune status and related disorders. Salt (sodium chloride; NaCl) is one component prevalent in processed food frequently consumed. Studying the mechanisms behind the effects of sodium chloride on immune cells like T helper (TH)17 cells and its implication as a risk factor for several diseases is a main goal. This essay was a systematic review of English articles published in PubMed, Nature, Semantic scholar and Research gate since 2010. Being up to date, matching with keywords and accessing thefull text were incoming metrics. Interleukin(IL)-17 producing T helper cells (Th17 cells) plays a pivotal role in autoimmune diseases exactly multiple sclerosis(MS). Researchers show that increased salt concentrations found locally under physiological conditions in vivo dramatically boost the induction of murine and human Th17 cells. Most researches demonstrated that excessive salt enhances the differentiation of Th17 cells, inducing a highly pathogenic phenotype that aggravates experimental neuroinflammation. First human studies revealed an association of increased MS disease activity with elevated salt consumption, while more recent epidemiology studies in larger cohorts suggest nocorrelation between salt intake and MS. Recent data from long-term studies with volunteers subjected to constant sodium intake have shown that urine Na+ concentrations oscillate between day to day measurements. However, it is known that ordinary urinary sodium analyses andnutritional questionnaires do not necessarily correspond to the actual sodium load and more sophisticated analyses are needed. Conclusions: Therefore, only further studies under less extreme conditions can show the extent to which increased salt intake actually contributes to the development of autoimmune diseases. Although more research is needed on the mechanisms underlying the impact of lifestyle on MS, studying the combined lifestyle factors simultaneously would help to enhance our understanding of the multifactorial impacton MS etiology.