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Have there been any success's or improvements with the hormone theory?
It does partly make sense since women are much more frequently diagnosed that hormones play a role.

http://mssolution.blogspot.com/

I have read this book by Kathryn R. Simpson; at first it seems to answer many questions, but with later consideration I recall many other questions that it does not answer. How does this account for the pediatric cases of MS, which prompted the recent creation of six pediatric MS clinics across the US? How does this hypothesis explain the geographic distribution of MS? The migration observation?

Let us remember that insulin is also an endocrine hormone. As longtime friends here know, excess insulin (hyperinsulinemia) is my personal choice as the culprit in MS.

One confusing thing for me on the insulin theory is the swank diet- it seems like that die is very low sat fat-but stll has carb/grains- is that correct? If insulin is the culprit why would the swank diet work for so many people. If anything wouldn't low fat make the insulin issue worse?

It is my understanding that the Swank diet is low carb, as is the Eskimo diet according to GaryTaubes in his book Good Calories Bad Calories (MS is virtually nonexistent among the Eskimos; among Lapplanders, too.).

Any carbs are complex carbohydrates for the most part, and do not trigger spikes of insulin secretion.

When the pancreas secretes insulin in response to glucose in the bloodstream or in response to the ingestion of simple carbs, which convert quickly to glucose, the pancreas secretes a generous amount of insulin -- more than adequate to handle the glucose amount. It is this excess amount in the bloodstream that I believe causes blood vessel damage and initiates the immune system action.

I don't believe the amount of fat in the diet, whether saturated or otherwise, plays any part in the insulin hypothesis -- it is basically neutral. A fatty diet may even prevent insulin from being absorbed in the intestines; if so, a fatty diet may actually help MS.

But remember, these wild ideas are just mine -- I have found no experts who agree with me yet. Only my husband and a few friends think these ideas are possible.