[ad_1]
Regular fasting could offer hope to people with multiple sclerosis because scientists believe that it could improve symptoms.
A human trial began after experiments in mice showed that their symptoms improved. Experts hope that changing people's diets will allow them to manipulate the immune system, which is hyperactive and attacks the body of people with multiple sclerosis.
Encouraging results of a trial on a smaller group of people have prompted scientists to continue research "
Multiple sclerosis currently affects more than 100,000 people in the United Kingdom and 2,3 millions of people around the world, and damages the brain and the nervous system.
Washington researchers The University of St. Louis says it hopes its discoveries can help people suffering from this painful and debilitating disease.
On trial, half of the participants will continue to eat a normal diet, while the other half will spend five days eating normally and will be limited to 500 calories for the other two days.
Researchers Hope to Find Out if Changes in Diet Will Affect Symptoms
Fasting every other day made mice less likely to have difficulty walking, limb weakness, and paralysis – symptoms of brain damage caused by MS
. as symptoms, but they were less severe and took longer to develop than others.
In addition, the immune system was more controlled in fasting and less inflammatory mice – a part of the immune response that could damage cells
If fasting or reducing caloric intake has the same effect in humans, it could pave the way for new therapies alongside traditional drugs.
MS damages the nervous system
the immune system attacks healthy parts of the body and causes fatigue, difficulty walking, vision problems and muscle problems and can affect the ability to think and feel. ;learn.
It causes nerve damage to the brain or spinal cord.
Laura Piccio, professor of neurology, said, "There are many possible ways for fasting to change inflammation and the immune response."
"One of the most it consists of changing the hormonal levels. We found that levels of the anti-inflammatory hormone corticosterone were nearly twice as high in fasting mice.
"But it could also act through the intestine."
Changes in the digestive system could control the immune response
Organisms in the digestive system help to develop and maintain a healthy immune system, and the researchers say that a change in the mix of bacteria in the intestine could affect the functioning of the immune system.
Mice that were fed every other day in a study They also had more healthy bacteria called lactobacilli, which reduced the severity of MS symptoms in other laboratory tests.
A small study of only 16 people showed that caloric intake produced similar changes in the intestine to what is seen in mice.
This gives researchers the hope that they can manipulate the digestive system to control the symptoms of MS in humans.
in which patients will always receive their medication as usual, aims to confirm their theory and could lead to testing on more people.
"You can not cure MS with a diet alone, but that could help"
Piccio added, "I do not think any doctor working with this disease think you can cure MS with the diet alone. "But we can use it as an adjunct to current treatments to help people feel better.
"We are not seeking clinical benefit [in this study] although we certainly hope to see an improvement." Because MS is so variable and people with relapsing-remitting MS can be stable and almost without symptoms. Instead, what we want to know, is if people on limited fasting undergo changes in their metabolism, immune response and microbiome, similar to what we see in the literature. mouse. & # 39;
Click here for more similar stories. [19659030]
[ad_2]
Source link
