Talk:Gut-associated lymphoid tissue

Anatomy: Microanatomy Mid‑importance

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70% of the immune system statistic[edit]

I've heard this several times, even from biologists. So I thought I'd go looking for where that stat came from.

I started worrying when I found that a Google search for "galt 70% immune system" mostly turns up a slew of herbal remedy sites hocking products using the statistic. I started thinking this might be another widely-believed-even-by-"experts" statistic that has no actual basis (like the "8 glasses of water a day" or "you only use 10% of your brain" ones). If I had to guess, I'd say many of these sites probably point to Wikipedia to back them up.

The first hope of a peer-reviewed article I found was on the third page where there's a link to this article that still isn't peer-reviewed but at least has a reference. The citation, "Salminen S, Bouley C, Boutron-Ruault MC, et al. Functional food science and gastro-intestinal physiology and function. Br J Nutr. 1998;80:S147-S171," has no "70%" statistic I can find. The closest to a categorical statement about the relative size of the GALT is "The human intestine represents the largest mass of lymphoid tissue in the body."

So, in light of the responsibility Wikipedia has in not perpetuating mistakenly believed facts (that may be used to dishonest ends), I have replaced this statistic (which has been here since the first edit) with the best I can muster based on known research:

The digestive tract is an important component of the body's immune system. In fact, the intestine possesses the largest mass of lymphoid tissue in the human body.

If anyone finds a better source or a problem with my research or edit, please discuss.

--Qwerty0 (talk) 00:53, 21 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I Looked this statistic in PUBMED on Friday August 12th, 2022: Vighi G, Marcucci F, Sensi L, Di Cara G, Frati F. Allergy and the gastrointestinal system. Clin Exp Immunol. 2008 Sep;153 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):3-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2008.03713.x. PMID: 18721321; PMCID: PMC2515351. A caption in the abstract portion: "Indeed, gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) is the prominent part of mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) and represents almost 70% of the entire immune system; moreover, about 80% of plasma cells [mainly immunoglobulin A (IgA)-bearing cells] reside in GALT." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.79.162.161 (talk) 17:49, 12 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

references tag at opening of article?[edit]

There is a <references/> which appears as the first phrase in the article and which does not appear to influence the appearance of the article text. Is there a reason why this is here, some technical or convenience reason? I wanted to ask just in case. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 23:59, 14 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]