From the archive: Are western lifestyles causing a rise in autoimmune diseases?

Could the food we eat and the air we breathe be damaging our immune
systems? The number of people with autoimmune diseases, from
rheumatoid arthritis to type 1 diabetes, began to increase around
40 years ago in the west. Now, some are also emerging in countries
that had never seen the diseases before. In this episode from
January 2022, Ian Sample speaks to the genetic scientist and
consultant gastroenterologist James Lee about how this points to
what western lifestyles might be doing to our health, and how
genetics could reveal exactly how our immune systems are
malfunctioning. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod