Inflammatory bowel diseases are autoimmune diseases or “immune against self”. They include Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative colitis and Celiac disease. These patients have pronounced lower digestive tract symptoms, and biopsy of the intestines confirms the disease.
 
Autoimmune diseases are associated with a genetic predisposition to attack self-tissue when inappropriate immune activation occurs. Two key pieces of information suggest that while a genetic predisposition is present, activation of the disease requires an environmental trigger. The first piece is the result of studies which examine groups of individuals with the genetic variation; only a small fraction of them ever actually develop the disease. The second piece supporting the information is the fact that most cases of autoimmune disease begin at ages 30 to 50 years in spite of the existence of the genetic trait since birth.
 
Once an autoimmune digestive disease is present, 60-70% of affected individuals develop significant improvement or remission after removing the environmental trigger such as a food sensitivity.