Research from Yale and funded by various organizations, including the Lupus Foundation of America, investigated the possible link between lifestyle and autoimmune and metabolic diseases. The animal study found that a high-fiber diet reduces levels of disease-causing bacteria, keeping the bacteria from moving outside of the gut and triggering autoimmune disease. The research uncovers an important link between diet, gut bacteria and autoimmunity, and can be helpful to future lupus study.

Study researcher Daniel F. Zegarra-Ruiz was a Lupus Foundation of America 2017 Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Fellowship Award recipient. Daniel shared with us, “We were quite surprised by the findings. Our research was the first to prove an interplay between a specific gut microbe and a high fiber diet in the context of lupus. Diet represents a more innocuous approach to research for lupus prevention through intestinal microbial modulation.”

Read the study