This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Found this interesting tidbit on a site which in general, I really agree with on so many levels. Some interesting thoughts, although not well-cited as are many other sections of that site...

Gluten Intolerance
One of the causes of magnesium deficiency is a diet high in grains, such as wheat, that have phytic acid. Phytic acid binds magnesium making it unavailable to the body. Wheat is an arid crop. It does not grow, and subsequently is not a staple food, in tropical countries. MS is also uncommon in tropical countries. Interestingly, wheat is a staple food in many of the countries in which MS frequently occurs.

Gluten intolerance has also been implicated in MS, and MS does occur more frequently in countries with high gluten diets. Gluten intolerance can lower absorption of minerals like magnesium. Perhaps not coincidentally, MS is uncommon in Asian countries like China and Japan, where the main starch is rice. Rice does not contain gluten.

coincidence or not, but I had the elisa/rast food allergy testing done in sept.07 and to my surprise as well as my md, I tested very positive to gluten and eggs. I have been on a gluten/egg free diet for 1 year. If there is any chance that diet is the culprit, then I will try to fix it.

My allergy has never caused me an anaphylactic type reaction, but who is to say that it hasn't, over the years, caused me a leaky gut/cause of MS...since they say that something has caused a breech in the blood brain barrier.

I have read that it can take several years to rid the body of food allergen/antibodies.

Extra benefit of gluten free: I've lost 40-50 pounds.

I found out that I was actually a coeliac (gluten intolerant) 5 years ago. My MS has greatly improved since sticking to the gf diet, but it has not gone totally. I also gave up smoking and changed meds to Copoaxone around that time so it's hard to tell what is working well.

I would beg anyone with MS with any bowel symptoms (including constipation) to just get a blood test for anti-gliaden antibodies. You have to actually have been eating a normal diet prior to the test for a few weeks otherwise you could get a false negative result. I wasn't underweight when I was diagnosed as a coeliac, although a lot of family doctors still think that's what a coeliac should look like. I have a feeling that gluten intolerance is far more commen than people think but it's not a diet I'd embark on without a medical reason like the anti-gliaden antibodies + result/biopsy.