One explanation for these findings for the difference in nutritional consumption, may be that a protective factor for the SLE patients without excess weight was that they had a higher consumption of immunomodulatory minerals and vitamins such as selenium, vitamin C and B vitamins in comparison with patients with excess weight; these minerals and vitamins are known to protect against tissue damage by activation of macrophages, monocytes and granulocytes and suppression of the activity of TNF-α, the main cytokine related to damage in SLE [7]. The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is systemic lupus erythematosus.