After years of having strange symptoms that came and went quite mysteriously, my Multiple Sclerosis (MS) openly announced itself in the fall of 1996, followed by rapid disease progression. By September 1997, one month after having learned my tormentor’s name, I was on full disability, barely functioning, and facing a bleak future. Determined to escape this ravaging disease, I luckily found the way to recovery through diet. It took me several years, but by the fall of 2000 I had joyfully reclaimed full health and hiked down the Grand Canyon.

Now, in the fall of 2009, I have returned to my chosen profession as a clinical social worker and lead a full and unencumbered life. MS plays no part, except in my commitment to help others to recover through diet as I did. It has been a highly gratifying experience to see and hear about so many others from around the world who have reversed their MS and reclaimed their lives. What started out as simply my sharing information with anyone who heard about my recovery, has led to the publication of a book, The MS Recovery Diet, an active website www.msrecoverydiet.com, appearances and articles.

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

Recent research on MS has served to raise more questions about this mysterious disease, rather than supply more answers. Even long-held theories which had become truisms are shown to be inaccurate, which explains why drug therapies based on these concepts have not proven effective(1).

MS has been characterized as an inflammatory disease, in which immune cells activated in the blood stream pass through the blood-brain barrier and attack the protective myelin sheaths surrounding the nerves of the central nervous system. This disease action leaves the hallmark lesions or sclerosis in the aftermath. Because the myelin is also part of the ‘self’, MS is characterized as an autoimmune event (attacking the self), thus the nerve conduction is disrupted and damaged, resulting in a wide array of symptoms.

The inflammatory and autoimmune aspects of the disease are now shown to be the secondary disease pathway. Neurodegeneration (cell death) is the primary cause of the destruction that leads to disability(2). This pathway, undetected under normal-appearing white and grey matter, leaves no clues and is ongoing from the outset. It had long been held that MS was a disease of white matter only. This disease process is axonal apoptosis, in which the long fibres of the nerves (the axons) die off (apoptosis) with no known cause(3). MS can now also be characterized as a neurodegenerative disease, just like ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

The lesions left on the spinal cord or in the brain have historically been the focus of study as the basic process of the disease, and as the target of medical intervention through drugs. Recent discoveries now show that these are not the uniform phenomena they were thought to be, but are actually of four different types(4), characterized by the presence of different kinds of cells. Two of the four sclerosis types fit the old theory of an inflammatory event, in which the activated immune cells attack the myelin. In the other two lesion types, the oligodendrocytes (cells that make the myelin) are postulated to be either the target of immune cell attack or another case of cell apoptosis.

Dr. Roy Swank characterized MS as a vascular disease, and worked tirelessly from the early 1950s through late 1990s to study and treat people with MS, following his understanding of the role saturated fat played in the disease process. He found that people with MS do not process saturated fat in the usual manner. Instead, in these individuals it coagulates and forms microscopic emboli in the micro-circulatory system. The pressure of these emboli against the capillary walls causes breaches in the blood-brain barrier, resulting in symptoms. He noted that lesions were generally situated next to breaches in the blood-brain barrier. In his published research papers, especially in his 40-year longitudinal study, he reported good results in generally slowing the disease progression with his recommendation to decrease intake of saturated fats. In some cases, especially if the dietary regimen was begun early after diagnosis, the disease was stopped and symptoms reversed. His work was rejected by medical science. Recently, however, the question of MS being a vascular disease has been revisited.

No one theory, as cited above, has yielded a true understanding or a cure. Multiple Sclerosis is a neurodegenerative, inflammatory, autoimmune, vascular and digestive disease. The one universal fact in MS is the breaching of the blood-brain barrier, which renders the central nervous system no longer inviolate.

MULTIPLE CAUSES

Multiple is the operating word in this disease. In every aspect there are multiples: multiple causal factors, multiple disease processes and pathways, and multiple symptoms. In each case, the combination and relative loading of each factor appears to be unique. No one factor is necessary and/or sufficient to cause the disease to manifest.

It has been established that a genetic factor, an environmental factor, a geographic factor, a possible vitamin D deficiency(5), an early infectious event(6), a varying period of dormancy which is broken by some event, are all causal factors in MS. In the case of the infectious event, over 50 years of research has yet to find a single culprit, leading to the conclusion that probably a multiple of infectious agents are capable of causing the immune system to reprogram to molecular mimicry, where the immune cells mistake myelin for invading cells(7).

With so many causative factors, none of which qualifies as a smoking gun, finding a single all-encompassing treatment is virtually impossible.

MS RECOVERY DIET

The main principles of the diet approach are to stop the immune cells from being activated in the bloodstream and to stop the breaching of the blood-brain barrier(8). This serves to arrest the disease process that leads to the cascading events inside the central nervous system which cause symptoms. Once the disease process is stopped, the body can heal and repair, and full functioning can be restored. This is accomplished by stopping the ingestion of the foods that fuel the disease process (both by activating the immune cells and by causing the blood-brain barrier to be breached, allowing these cells inside the central nervous system). Though not understood, the diet also stops the primary neurodegeneration of axonal apoptosis.

The foods that have been named as culprits are saturated fats, five foods which are common allergens (wheat and gluten-containing grains, dairy, eggs, legumes and yeast) as well as sugars. Here again are the multiples: each person afflicted by MS has a unique sensitivity profile. None of these foods have shown themselves to be either necessary and/or sufficient to fuel the disease process in all MS cases.

As Dr. Swank’s understanding of the role of fats in MS increased, he modified his prescription – from just limiting saturated fat to less than 15 grams a day – by adding the recommendation that four to 10 teaspoons of the essential fatty acids, the healthy oils (Omega 3, 6 and 9) be ingested as well(9). Over the years, the accumulated evidence has shown this to be true and is incorporated in the recovery diet.

As the diet evolved, the observation was made that the foods introduced into the human diet since the beginning of agriculture tended to be the most problematic for people with MS. This led to the concept that the Paleolithic diet(10), made up of the foods eaten by humankind for millennia before about 10,000 to 6,000 years ago, should be followed.

The problematic agriculturally-based foods are the gluten containing grains such wheat and barley, plus dairy, eggs, legumes and yeast. Many of these contain lectins. Research on lectins(11, 12, and 13) now helps explain why these foods fuel the MS disease process and symptom formation. Lectins are proteins, which are often difficult for humans to digest and often to some degree are toxic to humans. Lectin cells cause problems because they can open cell barriers. Possibly carrying other molecules, lectins unlock the endothelial cells that form the barrier of the digestive system, allowing them and their cargo into the bloodstream where they activate the immune cells. More than that, they also unlock the blood-brain barrier, carrying their load and allowing the activated immune cells access to the central nervous system where they wreak their havoc known as MS.

From the accumulated experience of people with MS, it is also known that sugar fuels the disease process. Sugar has a detrimental power of its own, not just in MS. The explanation and supporting evidence is easily inferred from the research on diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Celiac disease(14, 15, 16).

Consistent with MS’s modus operandi, each person’s trigger foods are unique and often go beyond the usual saturated fats, the five commonly allergenic foods, and sugars. Leaky gut syndrome, a condition in which partially digested food particles enter into the bloodstream and are identified by the immune system as antigens, explains these unique sensitivities. The MS recovery diet presents general guidelines, and the ways to determine and discover each person’s unique food trigger profile. One person may find they need only to restrict saturated fat to recover, one may find only eggs and dairy fuel their symptoms, while another may find that they are sensitive to and need to stop eating a whole panoply of foods.

NUTRIENTS TO HEAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Balancing the food restrictions, this dietary treatment also recommends the inclusion of foods helpful to healing. These include the essential fatty acids (also known as PUFAs, polyunsaturated fatty acids), as well as foods rich in antioxidants (17).

Getting sufficient vitamin D, either by sunlight or supplement, is also important(18). Research is finding more about the importance of vitamin D, not just as a regulator of immune cell activity, but it apparently supports many bodily functions. Research suggests that vitamin D can be crucial in the prevention of MS. Raw foods to boost enzymes and cultured foods or supplementation of healthy probiotics are also encouraged.

MS is a disease of constant fluctuations of symptoms and symptom intensity. Once a person begins to attend to these changes, however subtle, patterns emerge. They can then begin to discover cause and effect relating back to what they have eaten. As effective as the diet approach has proven to be, it takes dedication, work, and discipline to reap the rewards of a complete restoration of health. Given the alternative, and the absence of any other safe effective treatment, the MS recovery diet is well worth pursuing.

OTHER TREATMENT APPROACHES

In the mid 1990s, there was a great deal of excitement about the CRAB (Copaxone, Rebiff, Avonex and Betaseron) drugs as a truly effective treatment for MS. Copaxone is a myelin decoy which draws the invading immune cells away from the myelin. The other drugs are based on the natural occurring interferon in the body, which serves to dampen immune action. These drugs worked somewhat for some people, but they did not deliver as expected.

Next, hope was placed on Tysabri and similar drugs, but they, too, have been disappointing and risky. The idea behind these drugs is to tie up the activated immune cells in the bloodstream, preventing them from crossing the blood brain barrier, thereby stopping them from doing damage in the central nervous system. These also help some people to some extent.

Hope is now focused on the newest Liberation Treatment or Procedure, which revises Dr. Swank’s concepts of MS as a vascular disease. Pioneered by the Italian researcher / surgeon Paolo Zamboni, it is based on the findings that the main drainage pathways for blood to flow out of the brain in MS patients were narrowed or blocked. Moreover, the blood would flow back and form new pathways around the blockages. Given the name “chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency,” or CCSVI, the treatment uses balloon angioplasty and/or stents to clear the veins identified as problematic. Interestingly, it is not clear if this blocked artery condition is a cause or a result of Multiple Sclerosis.

All of these treatments draw from one of the aspects of MS as an inflammatory/autoimmune disease or as a vascular disease. None address the neurodegenerative aspect. In contrast, the diet has been developed over time by people with MS using trial and error, testing out concepts, with the method being constantly refined. The diet is not based on any one abstract theory or construct. Even then, reflecting the complexity of the disease, there is a small percentage that don’t get the same results with the diet. MS continues to thwart any attempt to solve its riddle.

CONCLUSION

Considering the number of causal factors, the different disease pathways and lesion profiles, the many and varied symptoms and their intensity levels, as well as the number of foods that trigger symptoms, a calculation of all the combinations and permutations of these factors is staggering. That is Multiple Sclerosis!

Another potential layer of complexity may lie in the research literature which is replete with seemingly random studies showing changes in body chemistry in people with MS. These include studies that show altered levels or composition of the following: saliva, dopamine, nitric oxide, aluminum, elevated iron, P wave in cardiac functioning, and gut metabolism abnormalities. Cervical lymph nodes have also been found to play a role in MS. At present, there is no context in which to place these findings, but they do suggest that MS is truly a whole body disease.

Whatever science discovers as the actual disease process doesn’t matter in terms of the diet. The good news is that the diet works to stop, control and reverse symptoms in MS, resulting in a full restoration of health, no matter how progressed the disease had become. There is no large extra cost, no deleterious side effects, and no risk to health or life. Despite being eschewed and disdained by the health care establishment over the last 50-plus years, the diet approach has continued to be developed and refined. The legacy of spreading the word by any means has been carried on. No one should suffer unnecessarily from MS.

Article Tags: supplements, diet, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disease

About the Author

More Articles by Ann D. Sawyer

Ann D. Sawyer along with Judith E. Bachrach, are the authors of The MS Recovery Diet, Avery/Penguin Group USA, 2007. Visit their web site at www.msrecoverydiet.com. The book can be purchased through Barnes & Noble bookstores, or on Amazon.com.

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