The immune system may be either overly aggressive in general, or may fail to distinguish between self and non-self – between you and the bad guys. One’s own tissues and systems come under attack. The resulting symptoms depend on the system being attacked. The immune system is set up to produce antibodies against a wide range of pathogens, or disease-causing organisms. It is also set up to not react against the molecules carried in the body’s own cells. Our immune system was designed to provide protection against foreign invaders, much the same way our country’s defense systems are set to be on alert against dangers to its national security. This does not just spontaneously happen. As our bodies come into contact with toxins and the bad habits of an unhealthy lifestyle our immune system weakens more and more over time…eventually it literally collapses and puts the body into a tailspin of chronic health problems that begin to appear and never go away. Once they appear it is extremely difficult to reverse without making positive long term lifestyle changes and cleansing the body of the toxic build-up it has acquired over time. How prevalent is autoimmune disease? About 5% of adults in Europe and North America suffer from an autoimmune disease. Two-thirds of these are women.