Low-fat diet good for multiple sclerosis patients

Following a plant-based low fat diet may help people who suffer from fatigue associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), research says.“This study showed the low-fat diet might offer some promising help with the fatigue that often comes with MS,” said Dennis Bourdette, chair of department of neurology, Oregon Health & Science University.MS is an inflammatory disease in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged, disrupting the ability of parts of the nervous system to communicate, resulting in physical, mental and sometimes psychiatric problems.The study investigated the effects of following a diet called the McDougall Diet, devised by John McDougall.The diet is partly based on an MS-fighting diet developed in the 1940s and 1950s by the late Roy Swank, a former head of the division of neurology at OHSU.The McDougall diet, very low in saturated fat, focuses on eating starches, fruits and vegetables and does not include meat, fish or dairy products.The study, which began in 2008, looked at the diet’s effect on the most common form of MS, called relapsing-remitting MS.

CONTINUE..