> Are autoimmune diseases included in syndrome X? > Ron Hoggan, Ed. D. > co-author of Dangerous Grains ISBN: 1-58333-129-8 > http://www.dangerousgrains.com Highly recommend your book too, Dr. Hoggan. While correlated, I'm not sure how you'd include autoimmune disease in Syndrome X. Autoimmune disease is the body's reaction to foreign proteins in non-paleo foods. Confusing, for instance, gluten for the myelin sheath in brain cells, the body mounts an attack against the brain when wheat is consumed. The result: Attention Deficit Disorder and Autism, different forms of the same disease. Arthritis, lupus, the list of autoimmune diseases goes on and on. The diseases of Syndrome X are caused by carbohydrates *regardless* of their source, paleo or not. If you keep blood sugar levels elevated -- an almost forgone conclusion in modern life -- eventually the sugar pumps in the body's cells become desensitized to the constant wash of insulin (a hormone responsible for, among other things, the triggering of the sugar pumps). The result is insulin resistance, or Type 2 Diabetes. Now wheat, being high in carbohydrate, *can* surely cause hyperinsulinemia or high blood sugar. But so can honey, orange juice, dried fruit.