Bulletin Spring 2018

DOES DIET PLAY A ROLE IN
MS DISEASE PROGRESSION?
DR LUCINDA BLACK, MSWA FUNDED POSTDOCTORAL
RESEARCH FELLOW, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, CURTIN UNIVERSITY
Around 40% of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) make
dietary changes after their diagnosis 1 sometimes to lose weight
and sometimes with the goal of reducing disease progression.
However, there is very little consistency in the types of dietary
changes people make – these range from healthy changes,
such as increasing fruit and vegetable intake, to unhealthy
changes, such as eating more convenience or snack foods.
People newly diagnosed with MS often feel that they are
not given sufficient dietary advice by their health care
professionals. 2 This may partly be due to the fact that research
on diet and MS disease progression has been limited and
often poor quality; as a result, there are no evidence-based
dietary recommendations specifically for people with MS.
However, interest in this area of MS is growing rapidly, and
many studies are under way that will help to answer some of
the outstanding questions. Let’s have a look at the literature
to date.
Omega-3 fatty acids are very important for brain function,
particularly the active forms of omega-3, known as EPA and
DHA. These are the healthy fats we get from oily fish, fish
oil supplements and cod liver oil. We do get omega-3 fatty
acids from linseed, but only a small portion is converted in
our body to the active forms, so linseed is not the best source
of omega-3. Research on omega-3 and MS dates back
to the 1970s, but trial quality was often poor and results
were inconclusive.
Two studies were conducted recently that assessed whether
fish oil supplements might be effective in reducing MS disease
progression. 3,4 Both studies randomly allocated participants
with relapsing-remitting (RRMS) to two groups (treatment
and control group). Participants in the treatment group were
given a fish oil supplement, while participants in the control
group were given a placebo supplement with no active
constituent. After one to two years, researchers reported no
beneficial effects of the fish oil supplements on MS disease
activity. However, one study did show reduced inflammation
in the treatment group compared with the control group. We
know that inflammation is an important factor in MS disease
progression, so reducing inflammation is a helpful outcome.
These studies were considered ‘pilot’ studies, and included
only a small number of participants (