This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Possible...but this has happened VERY quickly (in the last 10 years) and there was diagnosis in place in Kuwait, as evidenced by the published research.
cheer

Department of Neurology, Ibn Sina Hospital, Safat, Kuwait. alshubaili@hotmail.com
The epidemiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) is undergoing dramatic changes; MS is occurring with increased frequency in many parts of the world. In this retrospective study, we examined the changes in incidence and prevalence of MS in Kuwait in the period between 1993 and 2000. We analyzed the records of patients with clinically defined and laboratory supported MS. The total incidence rate increased from 1.05/100,000 population in 1993 to 2.62/100,000 in 2000. The increased incidence of MS was most pronounced among Kuwaiti women (from 2.26/100,000 in 1993 to 7.79/100,000 in 2000. The total prevalence rate increased from 6.68/100,000 in 1993 to 14.77/100,000 in 2000. It was much higher for Kuwaitis (31.15/100,000), as compared to non-Kuwaitis (5.55/ 100,000), in a complete reversal of the pattern observed before 1990. The prevalence was also higher among Kuwaiti women (35.54/100,000), as compared with Kuwaiti men (26.65/100,000). In conclusion, the incidence and prevalence of MS in Kuwait has increased between the early and late 1990s with no signs of leveling off. In a geographic area that was previously associated with low prevalence, local environmental factors may be responsible for these dramatic changes.

But, in the oil-rich Gulf state where scorching summers keep people indoors, this appetite for excess is taking its toll. Kuwait is one of the fattest nations on earth -- and it is affecting people's health.
Just over 74 percent of the population is overweight, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and this "obesity epidemic" is contributing to a rise in heart disease and diabetes.

WHO says around 14 percent of Kuwaitis currently suffer from diabetes and it is on the rise.
"[Being] overweight and obesity have been gradually increasing for the past 15 years," Nawal Al Hamad, Head of Nutrition at Kuwait's Ministry of Health, told CNN.
The underlying causes are complex, but an abundance of food and sedentary lifestyles are major factors, according to Hamad.

Unsaturated fats such as Omega-3 are like anti-freeze..allowing blood to remain low viscosity and flow through narrow vessels - even in cool environments.

Local dairy farmers used iodine to sterilise milk containers and milking teats with iodine-based compounds, which contaminated the milk. Iodine levels got so dangerously high that in the 1990s, dairy farmers were forced to limit their use of iodine. Over the last five years they've switched to chlorine-containing cleaning products instead. At the same time, our tastes have been changing. For health reasons, we drink less milk and we eat less salt - and the salt we do use is mostly not iodised. And salt in prepared foods - now the major source of our salt - is almost always not iodised.

Has anyone here looked into having this done in Egypt? If so, please share your findings.

I am looking everywhere and am tempted...I really want to go to Euromedic...but still dont even have an approximate wait time.

the oil theory affects many more people than those of us with ms...

z

May 17, 2010 -- People who have asthma should avoid heavy, high-fat meals because it can inflame their airways, a new study says.

Such meals appear to inhibit relief provided by the common asthma medication Ventolin, generically known as albuterol, Australian researchers report.

They recruited 40 people with asthma. Some received a high-fat, high-calorie meal of fast food hamburgers and hash browns containing about 1,000 calories, 52% of which was fat; others ate a low-fat, low-calorie meal of reduced fat yogurt, containing about 200 calories and 13% fat.

The scientists collected sputum samples before patients ate and again four hours later, and analyzed the samples for inflammatory markers.

People who had eaten the high-fat meal had reduced response to the bronchodilators, compared to people who had eaten fewer calories and less fat.

“This is the first study to show that a high-fat meal increases airway inflammation, so this is a very important finding,” says study author Leslie Wood, PhD, a research fellow at the University of Newcastle in Australia. “The high-fat meal impaired the asthmatic response to albuterol. In subjects who had consumed a high-fat meal, the post-albuterol improvement in lung function at three and four hours was suppressed.”

The people who ate the high-fat meal had an increase in airway neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell and one of the first to arrive at an infection site, the researchers say. They also had a marked increase in activity of a cell surface receptor called TLR4 that is activated by fatty acids.

According to the researchers, TLR4 senses the presence of saturated fatty acids, causing cells to respond as if they have been invaded by a pathogen and leading to a release of inflammatory mediators. This increase in the activity of TLR4 suggests that dietary fat is a cause of inflammation.

Woods says in a news release that evidence suggesting that a high-fat meal changes the asthmatic response to albuterol was unexpected and needs more study.

“We also are investigating whether drugs that modify fat metabolism could suppress the negative effects of a high fat-meal in the airways,” Woods says. “If these results can be confirmed by further research, this suggests that strategies aimed at reducing dietary fat intake may be useful in managing asthma.”

Prevalence of asthma has increased dramatically in western countries in recent decades, suggesting that an environmental factor, such as food consumption, could trigger or aggravate an asthma attack.