In the treatment of MS (multiple sclerosis), nutrition can play a major or minor role, depending on the treatment approach adopted.
Many MS specialists who fall under the umbrella of conventional medicine recommend that their patients follow a healthy diet, pretty much along the lines of what the average health-conscious person would eat. They emphasize a diet high in fiber and low in fat, and may discourage their patients from following “special” MS nutrition regimens by pointing out that such diets may not have been designed or tested under rigorous conditions. In their estimation, these factors would make it difficult to objectively evaluate the statements made by the proponents of the special diets concerning nutrition and multiple sclerosis.
The MS specialists might also frown on the use of vitamin and mineral supplements, explaining that their unsupervised use might expose patients to toxic levels of the vitamins and minerals and further undermine their health. Such an approach to multiple sclerosis and nutrition would be on the pessimistic side. It would play down the possible gains that patients might get from transforming their nutrition practices.
It is easy to condemn such specialists for being too cautious. However, it must be pointed out that MS specialists with a cynical approach to multiple sclerosis nutrition therapy are often acting out of concern for the well-being of their patients. They are right in pointing out that some so-called special diets are of no particular benefit to MS patients. The people designing them may have no idea what they are talking about. Alternatively, the diet regimens they propose may be more relevant to their unique individual experiences of MS than to the particular manifestation of MS another patient has.
An Important Factor in the Development of MS- Nutrition
The specialists’ opposition to the uncontrolled and unmonitored ingestion of nutrient supplements would also be justified. Supplements, like other chemicals, have the potential to adversely affect bodily function if used improperly. Hence, they should only be used under the supervision of an individual with medical training who has proven experience working on nutrition for multiple sclerosis patients.
Ultimately, it is undeniable that nutrition matters in MS treatment: MS is a multifactorial condition that is partly influenced by genetic factors, and partly influenced by various environmental factors such as nutrition. Multiple sclerosis is known to be associated with nutritional anomalies like vitamin D deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency, iron deficiency, essential fatty acid deficiency and excess uric acid. It is no coincidence that many proponents of specially-formulated regimens of multiple sclerosis nutrition are themselves MS patients whose prognoses changed upon their transformation of their diets to address such nutritional anomalies.
