Dhru Purohit Show
Autoimmune Conditions are On the Rise — Do Food Sensitivities Play a Role? The Role of Gluten & Dairy in Autoimmunity and How to Address Food Sensitivities Starting with Gut Health
Mon, 05 May 2025
This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth, Birch Living, and Square. Autoimmune conditions now affect over 300 million people worldwide, and that number is rising fast. Yet the conventional medical model often misses the root cause, leaving many stuck on medications or searching endlessly for answers. In today’s episode, our guests reveal how food plays a powerful role in autoimmune symptoms—and how targeted changes can make a real difference. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, we’re bringing you a special compilation episode featuring Dhru’s conversations with experts on foods like gluten and dairy that trigger autoimmune responses in their bodies. Dr. Akil Palanisamy joins us to explore why autoimmune diseases are on the rise and how certain aspects of modern life may be fueling the epidemic. He breaks down the top contributing factors and shares his TIGER Protocol, which uses diet, lifestyle, and Ayurvedic principles to address them. Dhru and Dr. Akil also discuss the importance of mindset and staying grounded in what works best for you, so you can take action without feeling overwhelmed. Dr. Elroy Vojdani breaks down the role of food sensitivities in autoimmune disease, including common triggers and how they impact the immune system. He and Dhru discuss risk factors, the difference between sensitivities and intolerances, and the limitations of standard allergy tests. Dr. Vojdani also shares how to remove problem foods and take practical steps to heal the gut and restore immune health. In this episode, Dhru and his guests dive into: Dr. Akil’s two-phase diet approach for autoimmune disease (1:40) Restrictive diets: understanding food allergies vs. food sensitivities (3:41) AIP Diet vs. Dr. Akil's Elimination Diet—key differences (8:25) Blood tests and symptoms that help detect early autoimmunity (12:20) Essential foods that support gut repair (18:54) How to follow an elimination protocol on your own (26:58) Chronic diseases linked to food sensitivities (32:00) Food sensitivities and their role in F.L.C. (Feel Like Crap) syndrome (37:01) The rising prevalence of autoimmune diseases in recent years (40:30) Why food is the #1 trigger for autoimmune conditions (45:15) Dr. Vojdani's personal story and key risk factors for autoimmunity (47:09) Gut repair strategies for those without access to doctors or testing (52:20) Highlights from Dr. Vojdani's book When Food Bites Back and patient results (58:20) Dhru’s father’s success story with the Elimination Diet (1:04:36) Why the reintroduction phase is crucial for autoimmune healing (1:07:42) Final thoughts and takeaways (1:09:32) Also mentioned: Full episode with Dr. Akil Palanisamy Full episode with Dr. Elroy Vojdani This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth, Birch Living, and Square. Right now, get 40% off your Cozy Earth sheets. Just head over to cozyearth.com/dhru and use code DHRUP. Get 27% off your Birch Living mattress plus two eco-rest pillows during their Memorial Day early access sale—just head to birchliving.com/dhru today! Get everything you need to run and grow your business, without any long-term commitments with Square. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at square.com/go/DHRU Sign up for Dhru’s Try This Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: How are autoimmune conditions affected by diet?
Hi everyone, Drew Proat here. Autoimmune conditions are on the rise, affecting an estimated 300 million people worldwide. That's almost the entire population of the United States of individuals suffering with autoimmune conditions around the world.
And in today's compilation episode, I talk to two incredible experts about the connection between food sensitivities, specifically gluten and dairy, and autoimmune diseases. Even if you're someone, knock on wood, who does not have an autoimmune condition, you'll want to listen in to today's episode and understand why these two foods, gluten and dairy, are so poorly tolerated by many.
Not everybody, and we don't want to immediately demonize them as being bad for everyone, but why do these two foods come up time and time again as issues for so many people? So much so that they can often lead to symptoms including joint pain, fatigue, and most importantly, digestive issues.
First up, I sit down with renowned integrative medicine practitioner, Dr. Akil, for an explanation on why certain foods can be so problematic for individuals with autoimmune diseases. And in the segment, Dr. Akil highlights the protocol he created to address these issues.
And I also speak with functional medicine doctor, Dr. Elroy Vajdani, about why foods like gluten and dairy trigger immune responses and how implementing an elimination diet can lead to long-term healing and gut repair for some. But first, let's listen in to my conversation with Dr. Akhil Palasamy. What are you finding...
that people are not getting right when it comes to their diet and they're coming in and not understanding how their standard American diet and the specific components of it are maybe increasing their likelihood of autoimmune condition or making their autoimmune condition worse or not allowing them to heal, right?
What are some of the pillars of their diet that are really putting a lot of stress on their body?
Yeah, absolutely. So with diet, I like to separate it out. So I have like a phase one diet, which is more of an elimination diet, which is more restrictive, more focused on gut healing. And then there's the phase two diet where you're kind of reintroducing foods, you're expanding the prebiotic foods, you're rebuilding the microbiome.
And I feel like that's something that's missing, you know, because oftentimes I see patients you know, they're on like the autoimmune paleo diet, which is a very common diet, or the whole 30. And they, you know, felt significantly better.
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Chapter 2: What is Dr. Akil Palanisamy's approach to treating autoimmune diseases?
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Right. Um, so I think that, um, you know, uh, in terms of blood work, the, these auto antibodies, which are the, um, autoimmune kind of markers made by the immune system, um, often can predate the development of the autoimmune disease by like 10, 20 years.
And so if you're getting blood work, screening for some of those autoantibodies can be a clue because that could be one of the signs that you might benefit from this program. But some of the common symptoms I see, fatigue, of course is super common, but that can be caused by this. Joint pains, like different kinds of aches and pains.
And then cognitive issues like brain fog or mood issues, those are probably the three most common symptoms I see.
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Chapter 3: What is the difference between food allergies and sensitivities?
So consuming collagen better, consuming bone broth, making sure that you're intaking a really decent amount of live probiotics in your food, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, whatever it is that you decide that you wanna do.
Those are going to do wonderful things for repairing the barrier, and the Treg cells are very much influenced by both probiotics and the thing that they produce when they're in association with fiber, which is a short-chain fatty acid postbiotic. So do that. Vitamin D, zinc, fish oil, all those things, if you're going to start taking supplements, can really accelerate that healing process.
I remember reading your book when it first came out, but I don't recall, do you have a protocol inside of there that walks people through this process?
Yes.
Yes, you do. So people can get that inside of the book as well.
My favorite supplements for doing this, foods that you can consume if you want to do this entirely with food, which is absolutely possible. And yeah, it's all in there.
Yeah. And you already mentioned a few of those highlights. Now, a couple caveats for people, and I think you mentioned this the last time you were on the podcast, is... A lot of this is also contextual based on how bad things are. People who have had really bad IBS or IBD, which is an autoimmune disease, irritable bowel disease,
they start to include even some of these healthier foods that are fermented and have fiber, and it feels like a bomb went off in their stomach. So they gotta go slow, or they might need to focus on more of the reparative process before they can bring in or find the best tolerated versions of those things. In general, they're not gonna do well with typically a lot of raw vegetables.
Correct.
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