Nutrition & Diet

A lot is still unknown about the role nutrition plays when it comes to many kinds of disease. One thing is for sure ... no one questions the necessity of a well-balanced diet. Fad diets -- advocating an excess or an exclusion of certain types of foods -- are much more likely to hurt rather than help in any disease, including lupus.

Scientists have shown that both antibodies and other cells of the immune system may be adversely affected by nutritional deficiencies or imbalances. Thus, significant deviations from a balanced diet may have profound effects on a network as complex as the immune system.

There have been suggestions about various foods and the treatment of lupus. One example is fish oil. However, these diets have been used only in animals with limited success and should not become the mainstay of a person's diet.