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Encouraging article about antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake for MS. I do not have access to the article but the abstract is posted below:

Eur J Clin Nutr. 2005 Dec;59(12):1347-61. Related Articles, Links

Antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acids in multiple sclerosis.

van Meeteren ME, Teunissen CE, Dijkstra CD, van Tol EA.

Department of Biomedical Research, Numico Research BV, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Oligodendrocyte damage and subsequent axonal demyelination is a hallmark of this disease. Different pathomechanisms, for example, immune-mediated inflammation, oxidative stress and excitotoxicity, are involved in the immunopathology of MS.

The risk of developing MS is associated with increased dietary intake of saturated fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and antioxidant deficiencies along with decreased cellular antioxidant defence mechanisms have been observed in MS patients. Furthermore, antioxidant and PUFA treatment in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, an animal model of MS, decreased the clinical signs of disease. Low-molecular-weight antioxidants may support cellular antioxidant defences in various ways, including radical scavenging, interfering with gene transcription, protein expression, enzyme activity and by metal chelation.

PUFAs may not only exert immunosuppressive actions through their incorporation in immune cells but also may affect cell function within the CNS. Both dietary antioxidants and PUFAs have the potential to diminish disease symptoms by targeting specific pathomechanisms and supporting recovery in MS.

PMID: 16118655 [PubMed - in process]

I believe the answer to some (my husband is one of them ) starts with sat fat ratio to poly and mono fats. Other's I'm starting to believe might be more complex cases. I can notice just from the past few days of Christmas munching that hubby is lethargic as well as his coloring is off. I promised him he could have all his goodies this week so I only pray we can get back on track right after the 1st. I have upped his glucosamine as well as his flax for the holidays. He is off Turmeric for the week as that is part of the Christmas bargain we made as he gets a tad sick of the flavor. To be fair it is some nice to eat foods that aren't looking yellow for a change. Now Christmas Eve we had a terrible scare but it had nothing to do with MS. I bought as a treat John's favorite olives stuffed with what I thought was garlic. Keep in mind he has a severe allergy to ground nuts the worst being hazel nuts and almonds. Well those olives were stuffed with almonds like who would think of that. I had to call in a nurse(his sister) to get me some adrenalin but luckily and we are unsure why he did not go into anaphylactic shock. Odd to say the least as usually it is terrible. That in itself would have sent him into a relapse.

Melody,

I also have been guilty of the holiday munchies and need to get back to the better nutrition by New Year's. I've been pretty stringent about the gluten, but have been eating way too much chocolate and much more fat of all kinds.

I've got a couple of questions/comments about your post:

First a comment: I don't know about in Canada, but turmeric (with a standardized concentration of curcumin) is available in capsules in health food stores in the U.S. It might be an alternate way of getting curcumin without tasting it all the time. I like turmeric a lot, but suspect I would get tired of it if I used it a lot in dishes.

Second, I am curious about your husband's diet. Does he still eat gluten-containing foods? The reason I ask is that my sister (she doesn't have MS) stopped eating gluten about the same time I did. She has always had food allergies including wheat (documented by testing) and has had pretty bad hayfever in the spring and fall. Her allergies were not as severe as your husband's, but she would get bad indigestion, swelling in her mouth, etc. One of the worst foods for her was almonds. However, since she cut out gluten, she has found foods that previously caused allergic reactions now no longer seem to cause them. She has gone a full year with no hayfever. She was reluctant to try almonds, but once she tried them again she noticed no reaction. She had also started eating much lower-fat foods and taking supplements, so eliminating gluten was not the change she made more than a year ago.

I'd think my sister's experience was unique if I haven't read other reports that people with allergies experienced some mitigation of their allergies (either elimination or lessening of severity) when they changed the way they ate. On one of paleo food sites, a man reported that his wife stopped experiencing allergic reactions during pollen seasons when she changed her diet, and that was something that was totally unexpected. It just makes me think how much is still unknown about diet.

In any case, I am very relieved to hear your husband did not have as bad a reaction as he could have had. That must have been scary.

Lisa

LisaBee wrote:I don't know about in Canada, but turmeric (with a standardized concentration of curcumin) is available in capsules in health food stores in the U.S. It might be an alternate way of getting curcumin without tasting it all the time.

More importantly, from what I have read, tumeric itself is only about 3% curcumin (I think it is the active ingredient) where as the suppliments (which come in tablets, and therefore minimum flavour) are 95% curcumin.

As to why I use turmeric I just believe in trying to get it from diet rather than turning to supplement if possible. John takes so many supplements now he says they are a meal by themselves. IF I add to much more he is likely to put his foot down and take none.

As to gluten I have not removed it from John's diet as I had him tested and he does not have an intolerance. I also had him tested for milk products and again we limit but did not eliminate as he has no intolerance. We did remove lots of foods as he had allergy's to tree nuts, peanuts , soy which is a large group, corn another huge group of foods as corn or mais is in loads of foods. All squash and melon cucumber family as well as peach plum cherries and stacks more in that line. Plus what ever I've forgotten. So his system is working better as it doesn't have to fight all these allergy's or intolerances every day. We also gave up smoking 16 months ago as that is extremely hard on your system as well as aspartame and caffeine. We basically robbed our lives of the small enjoyments in order to have the benefit of staying on our feet. So far it is working for John because I believe "HIS MS" was triggered in the first place by a severe anaphylactic shock episode back in Dec 1997. Just my opinion once again.

Thanks Melody.

I can relate to the supplement side. It can get tiresome.

It sounds like he has a lot of food intolerances! I was just curious to compare situations. I've never been tested for food intolerances and never believed I had any, but started eliminating gluten-containing foods then dairy, although I still get small amounts of that here and there. It was initially an experiment based on what I had read about dietary associations and MS. A lot of vague digestive problems I had that I assumed were the normal lot of human existence just went away after I cut those two out, and so I continued with the change. I used to have bouts of indigestion at least weekly, over the last year I can count less than five incidents, so that was a pretty dramatic drop. Whether it actually helps the MS I don't know but I certainly feel MUCH better in the gut department. My sister is more like your husband with a variety of food allergies (apples, pears, chicken), but once she gave up gluten her other allergies appeared to go away, and that was odd and unexpected, makes me wonder about that "leaky gut" hypothesis. She had been tested for IgE-mediated allergies years ago, but not IgG ones and not for gluten specifically.

Literally food for thought,
Lisa

DIRECT-MS would like to offer their latest presentation, Potential Therapeutic Characteristics of Pre-agricultural Diets in the Prevention and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. The format is a Voiced PowerPoint presentation (‘Webcast’) and the webcast is narrated by Dr Loren Cordain of the Colorado State University. Dr Cordain is a world renowned expert on health and the original human diet and is the author of the “Paleo Diet” and “The Paleo Diet for Athletes”.

Dr Cordain explains how returning to a diet based on lean meats, seafood, fruits and vegetables can prevent and help treat MS and other diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Crohn’s Disease.

The original presentation was held in Calgary, Canada on October 03, 2007. It was attended by over 200 people interested in nutrition and chronic disease.

Cheers
Nick

DIRECT-MS material

Booklets

Direct-MS produces information booklets on various aspects of multiple sclerosis. These booklets are listed below and a PDF of each one can be opened and downloaded by clicking on the title. Alternatively we can mail you a hard copy of any of the booklets. Just writeor emailus and let us know which ones you would like sent to you. Don’t forget to include your mailing address. There is no charge for this service.

Booklet #1 Take Control of Multiple Sclerosis
This booklet discusses the main causal factors of MS and, with this information as a guide, it lays out our recommendations for nutritional strategies to help control MS.

Booklet #2 Protect Your Family from Multiple Sclerosis
This booklet emphasizes the high risk for contracting MS of first-degree relatives of persons with MS. It discusses the causal factors of MS with special emphasis on vitamin D deficiency as a primary cause. Finally it demonstrates that adequate vitamin D can likely prevent MS in most cases and provides a recommended supplementation regime.

Booklet # 3Multiple Sclerosis: The Alberta Disadvantage
This booklet demonstrates that the province of Alberta, the home of DIRECT-MS, has by far the highest rates of MS in the world: Prevalence 340/1000,000; Incidence 20/100,000.
Data and arguments are provided to support the argument that the main reason for the “MS Epidemic” is that all the main causal factors are present in Alberta, with low vitamin D supply being especially problematic.

Presentations

We have found that a Voiced PowerPoint presentation (‘Webcast’) is an effective way to communicate the science and the recommendations for nutritional strategies for controlling MS and preventing it in the first place.

Our latest presentation is Potential Therapeutic Characteristics of Pre-agricultural Diets in the Prevention and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. The presentation is narrated by Dr Loren Cordain of the Colorado State University. Dr Cordain is a world renowned expert on health and the original human diet and is the author of the “Paleo Diet” and “The Paleo Diet for Athletes”. He explains how returning to a diet based on lean meats, seafood, fruits and vegetables can prevent and help treat MS and other diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Crohn’s Disease.

Our third webcast is Prospects for Vitamin D Nutrition. The discussion is narrated by Reinhold Vieth of the departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital and Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto.
Dr. Vieth addresses the topics of:
Vitamin D and Human Evolution
Clinical relevance of higher vitamin D intakes
Toxicology of Vitamin D

Our second webcast is entitled Preventing Multiple Sclerosis and is the second in a series of web casts regarding nutrition and Multiple Sclerosis. The focus of the Prevention presentation is how MS can be easily, safely and inexpensively prevented by focusing on protective factors. This is a must see for those people with MS who have children.

Our first webcast, Nutritional Strategies for Controlling Multiple Sclerosis, addresses diet and MS. It presents the probable causes of MS and how to effectively control those elements. A review of the protective factors and how to incorporate them into your lifestyle are also covered

Nick, thank you for posting. I'm an infrequent poster, but avid reader on these forums. I've also spent a lot of time on DirectMS and truly appreciate the work that Ashton has done on behalf of MSers. My question to you is regarding glutens/legumes. How can you explain the results that Swank achieved by primarily avoiding sat fat but paying no attn. to glutens? The attached presentation seems to implicate glutens/legumes in inflamation more than sat fat but this would contradict the Swank study wouldn't it?

thanks

Jay

posted under natural approach:
http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-5658.html

Thanks for posting this video, it was interesting, I had not thought about foods that could cause or help prevent inflammation.

If only it consisted of oreos and cheeseburgers . . .

I was surprised that they stated that a diet rich fish protein was proinflammatory. Everything else I have read about a diet high in fish is that it's anti-inflammatory. I guess it might depend on how the fish is cooked, e.g., fried vs. baked etc.

NHE

ya no kidding - i think a diet rich in pub style fish and chips, or filet-o-fish from micky d's might be not so great lol!

I found this healthy-recipe blog the other day, and it's very cool.

http://deliciouswisdom.com/

I made the agave mustard dressing from her blog, and it was really good. The shallots make it creamy enough that you'd think there was dairy in there. My husband and I have been mourning the loss of our honey-dijon dressing since we figured out he was sensitive to honey, so it was nice to find this recipe.

We're on the Best Bet Diet, and there were still quite a few recipes on the blog that we could use. And you can sort by specific allergy (although not multiple allergy that I could find ).

I'll certainly have to step up the quality of my own blog, after seeing this one

--Mamacita