Food is the Key to Multiple Sclerosis Recovery

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Food is the Key to Multiple Sclerosis Recovery

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By Ann D. Sawyer and Judith E. Bachrach

 

Conventional medicine views multiple sclerosis (MS) as a chronic,

degenerative disease from which there is no escape. However, some of those who

have had

MS, even those very disabled by it, have been fully recovering from its

ravages for over fifty years, just by changing what they eat.

 

The recovery diet for MS has been developed and refined over the last fifty

years. Below, we provide the cohesive, comprehensive guidelines. First,

however, let's look at a brief overview of MS.

 

A Primer on MS

 

 

The conventional view is that MS is too complex, too multifaceted in cause,

symptoms, and processes, as well as too idiopathic, to be easily dissected.

None of the theorized causes (genetic, environmental, geographic, a possible

vitamin D deficiency,1 an early infectious event,2 or a varying period of

dormancy that is broken by some triggering event) have been found to be

necessary

and/or sufficient to effect manifestation of MS. Because one infectious

agent has not been isolated, a new theory is that multiple infectious agents

are

capable of causing the immune system to reprogram, resulting in molecular

mimicry by which the body's immune cells mistake myelin (the protective sheath

surrounding the nerves) for invading cells.3

 

With the advent of the disease, immune cells are first activated in the

blood stream and then pass through the blood-brain barrier into the central

nervous system, where they wreak their havoc. Recent research has discovered

that

there are two main disease pathways. The first is the damage to the myelin

and nerves, which results in the well-known lesions or sclerosis as seen on

MRIs. Even this is more complex than previously thought, for there are actually

four distinct lesion types.4 Moreover, the myelin appears to be the target in

only two of these types. The oligodendrocytes (the cells that make the

myelin) are thought to be the target in the other two. The second disease

pathway,

which was recently identified, is actually the primary cause of

disability.5,6 In this, axonal apoptosis (death of the long nerve cells) occurs

for no

apparent reason, in the face of what appear to be normal white (myelinated) and

gray matter. Symptoms, too, are difficult to study and pinpoint, as there is

not a direct correlation between any identified event or location in the

central nervous system and the symptom profile of the individual.

 

The Dietary Healing Approach

 

 

There are two universal facts in MS: One, the immune cells are activated in

the blood stream before they enter the central nervous system. Two, the

blood-brain barrier is breached, rendering the central nervous system no longer

inviolate. The dietary approach to healing MS is based on these two facts.

 

 

As people with MS struggled to find answers, they used reasoning and

observation, along with a few studies, to establish that certain foods

activated MS

symptoms. Food, however, is not the cause of MS; rather, certain foods fuel

the disease. Once these foods are identified and eliminated from a person's

diet, and a person uses foods that assist in repair and recovery, the disease

process can be reversed.

 

Recovery Guidelines

 

 

1. Saturated fats: Saturated fat intake is best limited to less than 15

grams a day. Red meat, dairy and eggs are eliminated from the diet. Saturated

fat

is also found in nuts, some vegetables and fruits like avocado and coconut

and even in the healthy oils. These all need to be counted.7

 

2. High allergenic foods: Three theories offer explanations why these foods

can be troublesome: the fact that these foods are relatively new to the human

diet, the idea of three-way molecular mimicry because these foods, the

infectious agents, and the myelin are all protein rich, and the fact that many

of

these foods contain lectins. (Lectins are under investigation as being able

to unlock the blood-brain barrier and the endothelial cells to the intestinal

wall, as well as activating the immune cells.) Individual sensitivity to

these foods varies greatly.8,9,10 The common allergenic foods are:

 

- Gluten-containing grains, especially wheat, as well as barley and rye.

Oats are still open to question.

- Dairy. This category of food can be troublesome both because of its high

saturated fat content and because many people find that it's a trigger food to

which they are highly sensitive. Some theorize that is due to pasteurization

and homogenization.

- Legumes. These include peanuts, soy (and all its derivatives such as

tofu), and the bean family in general.

- Eggs. Both egg whites and yolks have been implicated.

- Yeast.

 

3. Sugar: We often find sweets irresistible, but sugar needs to be limited,

again depending on the individual sensitivity. Sugar is also implicated in

many diseases,11,12 and is found in many different forms: sucrose, glucose,

fructose. Be aware of the ubiquitous corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup

now

found in many prepared foods and drinks. Such processed sugars may be

causative to the breach of the blood-brain barrier and subsequent damage to

nerve

cells.

 

4. Identify and stop ingesting foods to which you may be uniquely sensitive.

Consistent with MS's modus operandi, each person's trigger foods are unique

and may go beyond saturated fats, the highly allergenic foods, and sugar.

Leaky gut, where partially digested food particles enter into the blood stream

and are identified by the immune system as antigens, explains some of these

idiopathic sensitivities.

 

5. Digestive health is important in stopping the MS disease process as seen

in the unique sensitivities described above. Unthinking, we ingest many

substances in our modern life that are very rough on the digestive tract. For

the

best results, the following substances should also be held suspect and

minimized or avoided.

 

- NSAIDs: non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and Tylenol

- Antibiotics: these kill not only the harmful bacteria but the helpful

flora in our gut

- Antacids

- Alcohol

- Tobacco

- Caffeine

 

Foods that Heal

 

 

6. The essential fatty acids (aka PUFAs, the polyunsaturated fatty acids)13

and the monounsaturated fats: These oils (omega 3, 6, and 9) are the

ingredients for nerve and myelin repair. They are found in flax seed oil, fish

oil,

sunflower oil, safflower oil, walnut oil, grape seed oil, and olive oil. A

daily ingestion of 4-10 teaspoons is recommended. (Remember to account for the

saturated fat; for example, 1 tablespoon of olive oil contains 2 grams of

saturated fat, and 1 tablespoon of flax seed oil contains 1 gram.)

 

7. Lean protein, especially from fish and poultry, as well as generous

servings of vegetables and fruits (as tolerated for sugar content) make up the

basic daily foods.

 

8. Special care should be taken to ingest foods rich in antioxidants, like

the colorful fruits and vegetables; raw foods for enzyme boost; cultured

foods; and supplements such as digestive enzymes and probiotics to support

healthy

gut flora.

 

9. Drink water to keep hydrated and insure toxins are flushed out.

 

10. Get plenty of sunshine for vitamin D, shown to be very important to

healing MS.14

 

11. Exercise to retrain your muscles and restore strength.

 

12. Get sufficient rest.

 

Once MS sufferers begin to attend to these changes, they may see subtle

patterns emerge. It is possible then to discover the cause and effect

relationship, relating back to what was eaten and the resulting symptom states.

There is

no one-size-fits-all diet; each person must discover and fine-tune the

specifics of their own recovery diet. It can take varying amounts of time,

patience, discipline and dedication to reap the rewards of a complete

restoration of

health. Given the alternative of yielding to MS's fury, and the dearth of

any other effective, safe treatment, the diet is well worth doing. By necessity

and even more by choice, most people who have recovered from MS remain

careful and conscious eaters. The contrast of once having had MS provides many

gifts, including a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the value of good

health.

 

Conclusion

 

 

For people with MS, only the MS recovery diet has been shown to completely

restore full health and functioning. That is a gift beyond measure-it

literally saves lives. The side effects are wonderful, too. How many people

glow with

health and truly feel good in their bodies? On the MS recovery diet, people

get that exact feedback from family and friends. Despite being eschewed and

disdained by the health care establishment over the last fifty years, the MS

recovery diet has continued to be developed, refined and spread by word of

mouth. The information about this effective treatment, which has no cost and no

bad side effects, needs to be integrated into mainstream medicine so more

people can reclaim their lives. Please help spread the word. No one should

suffer unnecessarily from MS when there exists such a wonderful healing path.

 

Ann D. Sawyer and Judith E. Bachrach are co-authors of The MS Recovery Diet,

Avery/Penguin Group USA, 2007. For more information or to contact them,

visit their website at _www.msrecoverydiet.com_ (http://www.msrecoverydiet.com)

..

 

This article is from the May/June 2008 issue of the Well Being Journal. For

annotations, see May/June, 2008, Volume 17, #3.

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Endnotes

 

1. Islam, T. Gauderman, WJ. Cozen, W. Mack, TM. -Childhood sun exposure

influences risk of multiple sclerosis in monozygotic twins.- Neurology,

69(4):381-8, July 24, 2007.

2. Holmoy, Trygve. Vartdal, Frode. 'Infectious causes of multiple

sclerosis.' The Lancet Neurology, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2005, page 268. Also:

Gilden,

DH. Article by same title in previous issue of the journal.

3. Olson, JK. Ercolini, AM. Miller, SD. 'A virus induced molecular mimicry

model in multiple sclerosis.' Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology,

296:39-53, 2005.

4. Kantarci, Orthun. Wingerchuk, Dean. 'Epidemiology and natural history of

multiple sclerosis: new insights.' Current Opinion in Neurology, 19:248-254,

2006.

5. Compston, Alastair. 'Making progress on the natural history of multiple

sclerosis.' Brain, 129(3):561-563, 2006.

6. Filippi, Massimo. Rocca, Maria Assunta. 'MRI evidence for multiple

sclerosis as a diffuse disease of the central nervous system.' Journal of

Neurology, 252 Suppl 5:v16-24, 2005 November.

7. Swank, Roy Laver, M.D., Ph.D. Dugan, Barbara Brewer. The Multiple

Sclerosis Diet Book. New York, Doubleday, 1977, 1987.

8. Cordain, Loren, Ph.D. The Paleo Diet. New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons,

Inc., 2002.

9. Andersen, MT. Sandergaard, I. 'A wake-up call: Are degenerative diseases

provoked by some of our normal food constituents? A case of nutrigenomics.'

Medical Hypotheses, Vol. 68, Issue 1:229-230, 2007.

10. Editors. 'Do dietary lectins cause disease?' British Medical Journal,

318:1023-24, 1999.

11. Grady, Denise. 'Link Between Diabetes and Alzheimer's Deepens.' New York

Times, July 17, 2006.

12. News Release. 'Mayo Clinic Links Allergies to Parkinson's Disease.' Mayo

Clinic, August 2006.

13. Van Meeteren, ME. Teunissen, CE. Dijkstra, CD. Von Tol, EA.

'Antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acids in multiple sclerosis.' European

Journal of

Clinical Nutrition, 59(12):1347-61, December 2005.

14. Brown, Sherrill J. 'The role of vitamin D in multiple sclerosis.' Annals

of Pharmacotherapy, 40(6):1158-61, June 2006.