Multiple Sclerosis & Esssential Fatty Acids

This section is compiled by Frank M. Painter, D.C.
Send all comments or additions to:   Frankp@chiro.org

If there are terms in these articles you don't understand, you can get a definition from the Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary.   If you want information about a specific disease, you can access the Merck Manual.   Search Pub Med for more abstracts on this topic.

   Multiple Sclerosis, An Autoimmune Inflammatory Disease:
Prospects for its Integrative Management
Alternative Medicine Review 2001 (Dec);   6 (6):   540–566 ~ FULL TEXT
No pharmaceutical or other therapies exist that confer prolonged remission on MS, and obvious interrelationships between toxic, infectious, and dietary factors make a persuasive case for integrative management. The time-proven MS diet meticulously keeps saturated fats low, includes three fish meals per week, and eliminates allergenic foods. Dietary supplementation for MS minimally requires potent vitamin supplementation, along with the thiol antioxidants, the anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, and adaptogenic phytonutrients. Gut malabsorption and dysbiosis can be corrected using digestive enzymes and probiotics.


   Lipids and Neurological Diseases
          Med Hypotheses 1991 (Mar);   34 (3):   272–274
Neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Sjogren-Larsson syndrome, Reye's syndrome, and Refsum's syndrome (herediopathica atactica polyneuroformis), and many others afflict millions of persons yearly and have no successful treatment available. A common aspect of these diseases appears to be a lipid imbalance involving the essential fatty acids (EFA), linoleic and linolenic, and trace fatty acids which result from faulty lipid metabolism. It is proposed that treatments for these diseases should be sought through diet and metabolic enzymes rather than drugs.


   Supplementation of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Multiple Sclerosis
           Ital J Neurol Sci 1992 (Jun);   13 (5):   401–407
           For several years polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and in particular essential fatty acids (EFAs) have been proposed for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). There are contrasting data in literature regarding the effects of the n-6 and the n-3 PUFA series on different aspects of the disease, in particular on the frequency and severity of relapses and platelet function. This can be ascribed to the different criteria of patient selection in relation to the form and severity of disease at the beginning of the various studies.


   Polyunsaturated (Essential) Fatty Acids and Their Importance in Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Therapy of Multiple Sclerosis
Fortschr Neurol Psychiatr 1982 (Jun);   50 (6):   173–189
The concept of nutritionally or metabolically induced generalized defects in all membranes, especially in the myelin sheath, as a predisposing factor to an increased susceptibility for the development of MS, provoked a gamut of pertinent studies frequently producing controversial results. Hence, these conceptions concerning the pathogenetic involvement of essential fatty acids in MS have been put to rest - even more so after the role of prostaglandins in immunoregulation had become more apparent, whose biological precursors are essential fatty acids.


   Metabolic Aspects of Multiple Sclerosis
          Wien Med Wochenschr 1985 (Jan 31);   135 (1-2):   20–22
According to the present opinion multiple sclerosis (MS) is caused by a concurreance of various factors. This predisposing factor seem to be related to a disturbance of the lipid- and fatty acid metabolism, characterized by decreased concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and essential fatty acids (EFA) in the plasma, the blood cells, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and white matter of the brain in patients with MS.


   Fatty Diet and Multiple Sclerosis
          Rev Neurol 1997 (Dec);   25 (148):   2032–2035
At the present time, it is known that polyunsaturated essential fatty acids form a part of biological membranes. A relationship has been found between the dietary fat consumed and the plasma levels and cell membrane content.

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Since 1-01-1998

Updated 7-17-2007