Many authors refer to the original four categories of immune-mediated injury defined by Gell and Coombs. The concept of four mechanisms is just a starting point for understanding immune-mediated disease. These very complicated defense-injury sequences cause a variety of disease states.

Many of the major unsolved diseases of our civilization are either degenerative and/or inflammatory and many are recognized to be immune-mediated or hypersensitivity diseases.  Asthma, allergy, rheumatic diseases, autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, thyroiditis, psoriasis are examples of hypersensitivity diseases which involve humoral and cell-mediated immunity.

We use celiac disease - wheat allergy- as a prototype of food allergy which demonstrates the prolific ability of food allergy to produce a wide range of serious diseases. The major endemic diseases, atherosclerosis, diabetes 2 and Alzheimer's dementia appear to have common roots that involve both the food -supply and immune-mediated inflammation.

We think that all alert scientists need to consider at least two features of the food supply:

1. the metabolic consequences of food choices

2. the ability of foods to initiate and sustain immune-mediated disease ( inflammation).

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