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News on scientific advances in nutrition and multiple sclerosis
Dietary fiber components and multiple sclerosis
Dietary fiber, the main food of the gut microbiota, is essential for our health, especially in people whose intestinal microbiota is altered, such as people affected by multiple sclerosis. Among the various properties attributable to dietary fiber is its ability to control the immune system and thus inflammation. However, dietary fiber is very complex as it contains celluloses, hemicelluloses, starches, pectins, inulin, lignins, gums and mucilages, and it is not yet clear which of its different components influences the immune system.
Considering its relevance, it is surprising how few studies have been published on the effect of dietary fiber in multiple sclerosis. Among these studies we would like to highlight one published in 2022 in the prestigious journal Cell Reports (Cell Rep. 2022 Sep 13;40(11):111328) by a group of researchers from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, led by Dr. Lisa C. Osborne.
The Mediterranean diet and the risk of multiple sclerosis.
Last August, a very interesting study on the involvement of the Mediterranean diet in the development of multiple sclerosis was published in the scientific journal Multiple Sclerosis Journal (2023 Aug;29(9):1118-1125). This is a multidisciplinary study, in which different departments of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden) have participated and which has been led by Dr. Anna Karin Hedström.
The risk of abusing ultra-processed food in multiple sclerosis
There is much scientific evidence linking high consumption of ultra-processed food with an increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes, some types of cancer and, according to a recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2023 May;77(5):611-614), also multiple sclerosis.
The gut microbiome in multiple sclerosis
In September 2022, the largest study to date on the gut microbiome, i.e. the bacteria that make up the gut microbiota, their genes and metabolites, in people affected by multiple sclerosis (MS) was published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell (2022 Sep 15;185(19):3467-3486). This study was conducted by the International Consortium for the Study of the Microbiome in MS (iMSMS.org/) under the direction of Dr. Sergio Baranzini, University of California, San Francisco.