Multiple sclerosis diet has influence

Multiple Sclerosis: Diet has an influence on the course?
A healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains may have a beneficial effect on the course of multiple sclerosis. Apparently, those affected develop less complaints and are not so severely impaired in their everyday lives. This is the conclusion of a study by the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, in which nearly 7,000 people with multiple sclerosis (MS) were involved.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that usually occurs for the first time in young people between the ages of 20 and 40 years. The inflammation is caused by the attack of the body's own defense cells on the myelin sheaths of the nerves. The consequences range from blurred vision to general weakness, fatigue, depression and paralysis.
For the study, the MS patients in questionnaires gave information about their diet. By definition, a healthy diet was present when subjects consumed a lot of fruit, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, but low-sugar desserts and soft drinks, red and processed meats.

Diet influences the course of the disease. (Image: Alexander Raths / fotolia.com)

In addition, the US scientists assessed whether the lifestyle was healthy overall. In addition to the diet, other circumstances such as a healthy body weight, regular physical activity and non-smoking were taken into account. In addition, the subjects reported on whether in the past half year MS symptoms had recurred or continuously deteriorated. They should assess how hard they had felt affected by it.
In patients with a particularly healthy diet, the disease was 20 percent less likely to be severely impaired than subjects with an unhealthy diet. The result was independent of age and disease duration.

The risk of depression could be similarly reduced with a healthy diet. MS patients with a generally healthy lifestyle were less likely to suffer from severe fatigue (minus 31%), pain (down 44%) and depression (down 47%). However, no causal relationship can be demonstrated with this study design, the authors note in the journal "Neurology". It would be possible that the healthy diet of intestinal flora and immune system relieves the disease. However, other factors such as smoking and genetics may play a role. Therefore, long-term studies are needed to substantiate the results and explore the background. Heike Kreutz, bzfe