Multiple sclerosis: a fat metabolysm disorder?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a mysterious neurological disease with symptoms ranging from mild to so severe that they can cause disability. Recently, scientists have been investigating the connection between this disease and diet more intensely. Some indicators suggest that in countries where high-fat, particularly dairy fat, is consumed, the prevalence of MS is very high. Communities that live off fishing show an unusual resistance to this disorder. Therefore, it’s suspected that the cause partially lies in specific irregularities in fat digestion.

LOW-FAT DIET RECOMMENDED BY DR. SWANK FOR MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS Here are the main features of Dr. Swank’s diet for MS: • Eliminate red meat for the first year, including dark poultry meat and turkey. After that, no more than 85 grams of red meat per week, and it should be as lean as possible. • Do not eat dairy products with 1% or more fat, including butter. You can consume as much as you want of non-fat milk, skim milk, non-fat milk powder, condensed skim milk, condensed non-fat milk, low-fat cottage cheese, dry curd, cheeses with up to 1% milk fat, and non-fat yogurt. • Avoid processed foods containing saturated fat. • No more than 15 grams or 3 teaspoons of saturated fat daily. A cup of whole milk contains 5 grams of saturated fat, a tablespoon of butter contains 7 grams, and 30 grams of cream cheese or cheddar cheese contains 6 grams. • Consume at least 4 and no more than 10 teaspoons of unsaturated fats daily, such as sunflower oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, sesame oil, wheat germ oil, flaxseed oil, peanut oil, and olive oil. • One teaspoon of cod liver oil daily, and a meal of fish two to three times a week, averaging 30 grams of seafood daily. (For more detailed information, see Dr. Swank’s The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book, New York: Doubleday, 1987.)

Indeed, neurologist Dr. Roy Laver Swank from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland has long been quite successful in treating multiple sclerosis with a special diet that emphasizes low-saturated fats. Writing for the British medical journal The Lancet in 1990, Dr. Swank detailed the astonishing success of his MS diet. Over 34 years, he followed the cases of 144 MS patients. It was undeniable that patients who reduced their saturated fat intake to below twenty grams per day experienced fewer disease relapses and lower mortality rates than those who consumed more saturated fats.

The most significant improvement was seen in patients who started the low-fat diet before becoming severely debilitated. “If we put them on the diet before disability set in, 95% lived for another thirty years without signs of disability. All those not on the diet experienced significant health deterioration, and most died within the next twenty years,” says Dr. Swank. Now, Dr. Swank believes that an even lower intake of poorly saturated fat (no more than 15 grams daily) leads to even more significant and faster improvement. Dairy fats seem to be the most harmful for people with MS, with meat fats being the second.

At the same time, MS patients may need more of the fats found in fish from cold northern seas, such as omega-3. A recent study by Ralph T. Holman, PhD, from the University of Minnesota, and Dr. Emre Kokmen from the Mayo Clinic, found that people with multiple sclerosis have a very disturbed balance of fatty acids in their blood, characterized by a significant deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids.

Dr. Holman attributes the fatty acid imbalance to a fat metabolism disorder and believes it can be partially corrected by including omega-3-rich oils in the diet. “Fish oil works best,” he says, “but vegetable oils, primarily canola oil and flaxseed oil, can also help. Correcting this type of disorder doesn’t require astronomical amounts of oil,” says Dr. Holman. “We’re talking about a few teaspoons a day.” A recent British study showed that over three years, in the case of 312 MS patients, fish oil improved their condition and reduced the frequency of relapses.

The text is taken from Jean Carper’s book, Food: Your Miracle Medicine

In addition to the above, for those with MS (especially those in the early stages of the disease), I also recommend bioenergy treatments. Bioenergy helps slow down or even stop the disease.

Franjo Lenac