Swank and other dietary options

[semloh]

I'm reading the MS Diet Book by Dr. Swank. I am undiagnosed, but exploring the dignostic process again and checking into the what-if options.

Does anyone here adhere to a diet for MS? Please tell me your experience and any reputable sources for learning about it.

Ditto in re supplements/vitamins/etc.

Thank you!!!

Kelseyanna

[BBS1951]

I do the Swank and it helps me with the MS fatigue. I havent had a major flare since starting it--that could be due to swank, or it could be luck. There is research that supports the Swank diet--and his explanation makes sense too.

[bluesky63]

The official Swank site:

http://www.swankmsdiet.org/


Pub Med search for multiple sclerosis and Swank:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez


Pub Med search for multiple sclerosis and low-fat diet:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

One quote from an abstract in that search:

Our results suggest that a low fat diet supplemented with omega-3 PUFA may become recommended for the well being of MS patients under therapy.

Another quote from an abstract:

RESULTS: There was a significant reduction in the mean annual exacerbation rate and the mean Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) as compared to pre-study values. The plasma total phospholipid n-3 fatty acids increased and n-6 fatty acids decreased significantly.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that fish oil supplementation given together with vitamins and dietary advice can improve clinical outcome in patients with newly diagnosed MS.



I follow what I would call a healthy-fats diet, not quite the actual Swank diet. And I am not a fanatic. I find it easy and tasty. So does my family. :-)

In his sticky thread above, Mark cites evidence supporting diet as an approach for MS. Certainly it doesn't hurt; most people who have MS actually end up dying of other problems, which are definitely helped by a healthy diet. If following a healthy diet could also make your MS better, how could you lose by trying it?

There are also specific supplements that have been shown in reputable clinical trials to be beneficial in MS. I think those are in the sticky thread too.

Good luck, whatever you decide. :-)

[Jules A]

Hi,
I also do a low-fat modified SWANK diet and have been very happy with in just in general MS or not. Good luck.

[snack]

A good healthy diet and lifestyle is good for anybody particularly people with medical problems that often cannot get "away" with a crappy diet. For example a healthy person may be fine with a big fat breakfast that will put me to sleep 10 min after eating it or worse just make me so fatigued I cannot do anything remotely pleasant.

[Ted Hutchinson]

I would strongly recommend everyone to listen to the talk by Loren Cordain: Potential Therapeutic Characteristics of Pre-agricultural Diets in the Prevention and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (http://wildhorse.insinc.com/directms03oct2007)
It's quite hard going (hence the restless audience) but if you click on the slide it will maximise and you won't have to be irritated by audience movement. But if you listen a couple of times the message will begin to sink in.
Consider also what the Vitamin d status would have been in paleolithic times compared to now. Mostly primitive tribes wear little or no clothing and spend lots of time outdoors. The evidence that Vit D3 slows progression (let alone reduces risk of incidence) grows stronger and stronger. I'm particularly impressed with Braindead's pages here on MMP9's and the way Vit d reduces these.

I don't have MS but I think the list of supplements suggested here by DirectMSorg (http://www.direct-ms.org/supplements.html) is absolutely spot on for autoimmune conditions. I add acetyl-l-carnitine (http://www.upnaway.com.au/~poliowa/Serum%20Carnitine%20Levels%202002.html) for fatigue in my condition but it also helps with MS fatigue (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=16764345)
I should add VIT d has to be D3
Magnesium apartate, gluconate, orotate citrate not oxide.
B12 must be methylcobalamin not the other form.
I don't bother with calcium, plenty in my diet.
You may want to consider ground flax seed rather than flax oil, more health benefits & cheaper.
Remember when they talk about the EPA and DHA content of your fish oil they mean the TOTAL of these must add up to 3 grams of EPA +DHA It does NOT MEAN 3 X 1000mg fish oil capsules. depending on the strength it could be up to 9 daily. remember a small tin of sardines in tomato sauce will probably contain 2g of OMEGA 3 and may work out cheaper/better than capsules.

[bluesky63]

So perhaps the lack of clothing would be to make up for sardine breath -- one must consider total lifestyle in making healthy choices.

It seems that many MS neuros are recommending acetyl L-carnitine and vitamin D3 at the very least. Those are good basic ones to start with. :-)

[Mariel]

I have been on the Swank diet for 20 years now, got on right after dx. It is a necessity to me. If I do not follow it a couple of days, I start to stagger or meander, or even trip. So I go right back on it. The only thing on it I don't follow exactly is that I eat more than two eggs a week, in fact one every morning. That is the only way I diverge. I eat all "white meat" turkey and chicken. I drink skim milk and eat skim yoghurt. If I eat 2% cheese it's only enough for a slight flavoring, not a whole piece. So I'm really rigid on the diet.

It is a good diet for my other conditions too. I also have Porphyria, and I also now have Essential Thrombocythemia. So I'm already doing the best diet-wise for myself.

I did not do at all well on the "cave man diet" when it first came out over ten years ago. I got into great pain on it, within four days intolerable pain. There was too much fat in it from the types of meats used, probably, and not enough carbs. (I need carbohydrates). I was in really terrible pain, I can still remember it.
It probably was a porphyria attack, because porphs cannot cut back on carbs, and wheat products had been my best carbs, and they were off the caveman diet. I do well on most other grains, too--rice, corn, practically anything except millet which is constipating. So I am not a cave-woman.

I had a bizarre reaction to L-carnitine, which someone gave me a long long time ago because they thought it would be good for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which was one of my dx's before MS, Porphyria, or ET. I had a midnight hallucination or rather "feeling" that my nose was four feet long. I knew this was just a bizarre neuro reaction to the L-carnatine, and laughed myself to sleep. I woke up again with the four-foot nose a few hours later, so the effect persisted, but it was gone in the morning. Needless to say, the Chronic Fatigue doc was baffled. I myself cannot pinpoint it to any of my diseases--I guess I just have brain damage somewhere which rejects L-Carnatine in high doses.

I do take D3 600 mg a day, because of reading done on this forum.

Mariel

P.S. I was actually a patient of Dr. Swank. Went to him after my dx for confirmation, had his tests, both the usual clinical exam and the blood tests which are peculiar to his diagnostic method.

[Ted Hutchinson]

I do take D3 600 mg a day, because of reading done on this forum. 1 g = 1000 mg
1 mg = 1000 mcg (µg)
So, a dosage in mg's will have a thousand times more medicine than the same value in mcg's.
1mcg(µg) =40iu D3
10µg =400iu
12.5mcg of vitamin D3= 500iu
15µg = 600IU

600iu/d3/d will raise your vitamin d status from 40nmol/l to around 53.5nmol/l.
while every little helps others readers must note this is a trivial amount.
Optimum vitamin D3 status is around 125nmol/l - 50ng/ml

[agate]

I'm on a special diet, mainly due to Type 2 diabetes, but it has also helped the MS.

I don't eat meat. I eat fish sometimes. Mainly I eat dairy products, vegetables, whole grains, fruit. My calorie intake is between 1000 and 1400 a day. I try to maintain my weight though I'd like to lose a few more pounds.

I don't drink coffee or tea or alcoholic drinks. I do drink Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke.

I don't add sugar to anything, and I reduce the sugar in recipes. I never fry anything except an egg.

Breakfast is usually a hefty meal compared to the others.

[Ted Hutchinson]

I don't drink coffee or tea or alcoholic drinks. I do drink Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke.

What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now? - (http://www.healthbolt.net/2006/12/08/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-drink-a-coke-right-now/)
ASPARTAME Food Additives ~ CSPI’s Food Safety (http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm)
ACESULFAME POTASSIUM CSPI Acesulfame-k Web Page (http://www.cspinet.org/reports/asekquot.html) General Information ~ CSPI's Food Safety (http://www.cspinet.org/foodsafety/additives_acesulfame.html)

Aspartame found to cause breast cancer, leukemia and lymphomas in latest animal experiments (http://www.newstarget.com/021920.html)

Diet products contain chemicals that stimulate hunger, says health professor (http://www.newstarget.com/020782.html)


You'd be far better off junking the Diet Pepsi/Coke and taking up Green Tea as your main beverage.
Green tea (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=146)

[semloh]

I'm a diet cola addict. Big time.

[agate]

In spite of Ted's links, I don't think that the facts are in on diet drinks. He writes:

You'd be far better off junking the Diet Pepsi/Coke and taking up Green Tea as your main beverage.
Green tea (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=146)

Thanks for your concern. One reason I don't drink tea is that I'm apt to spill hot things, and that can cause bad burns.

--I forgot to mention that I never eat desserts though I do snack on the occasional cookie. No jams, preserves or jellies either except for apple butter rarely.

I keep track of each day's calories and keep an eye on the fiber, protein, and sodium. I try hard to get plenty of fiber. I've been eating this way since 1984.

[Ted Hutchinson]

In spite of Ted's links, I don't think that the facts are in on diet drinksI can provide more if you'd like;) or if you think you could change your mind. Aspartame decreases evoked extracellular dopamine levels in the rat brain: (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17976663) shows how it reduces the amount of dopamine in your brain and you can see the impact of that here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine)
Aspartame cancer risks revisited: prenatal exposure may be greatest concern. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/utils/fref.fcgi?PrId=3494&itool=AbstractPlus-nondef&uid=17805409&db=pubmed&url=http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=17805409)
Life-span exposure to low doses of aspartame beginning during prenatal life increases cancer effects in rats. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17805418)


Thanks for your concern. One reason I don't drink tea is that I'm apt to spill hot things, and that can cause bad burns. Well that's one advantage of green tea. First off it tastes better if it is made with water off the boil so I have a kettle with thermostat that switches it off before it boils so the water never gets too hot. Similarly green tea is fine cold. So if you leave it it's still great. I'm always leaving mugs of tea around the place and it's great to come across one and drink it stone cold.
You can cheer it up with some sparkling water if you like fizzy drinks.
You can also ring the changes by adding ginger, lemon, spices, herbs etc.

Green tea is an anti-inflammatory agent. MS is an inflammatory condition. Every effort MSer's make to increase natural anti inflammatory status helps their body's cope better.

[agate]

I'll try it now that I know it may not taste bad cold. I have nothing against green tea.

I don't know about leaving mugs of it around the place. There's a cat here who would sample them and shed hairs and whiskers into the tea.

Put lids on the mugs, you say? Any lid that fits tightly enough to keep the cat out of the mug is also a lid I won't be able to pry off.

Good idea about adding ginger or other spices.

Getting back to the diet question in this thread, people who give up fatty and sugary foods often seem to miss them and complain about the tiresome blandness of vegetables. I've found that adding black pepper or other herbs/spices to ordinary vegetables makes them much more interesting. If you feel you have to change your diet radically (as I did), you might as well make the new diet as much fun as possible.

[Ted Hutchinson]

Ground Flaxseed (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=81) can also be used as a seasoning and as a substitute for eggs or butter. Because it is the precursor to EPA it counts as an omega 3 essential fatty acid and helps towards achieving your optimal omega3 intake.

[Mariel]

Agate, because of being on the Swank diet, I use a lot of herbs in cooking. Italian and dill are my favorites. My husband likes chili, so I do make that sometimes with white meat turkey. I love curry, but I have to go easy on it because it has coriander in it, which is bad for porphyria.

Today I cooked organic chicken out of the freezer in a base of half orange juice and half water. I added corn chowder flakes from the health store for taste. I added some whoie wheat noodles, spreading them on the top. This cooked on low all day. I vary such a basic recipe by using diluted applesauce.

Ted, I am sorry I again got the Mg and Mcg's mixed up again.

I agree that aspartame is not good. Because I have porph, I discovered it caused mild paralysis long ago. I drank half a can and could not move my right arm very well. I tried it a few more times and found myself clenching my teeth, a neurological reaction. I didn't try it more than four or five times before I gave up.

I drink hot green tea in moderation, but I have sampled it cold during the summer and it's wonderful that way. My husband likes it cold, too.

I cannot eat flax because I have porphyria. Don't ask me what the trigger in flax is. I do not know, but I know other porphs have the same problem. Muscle pain arising from eating flax. For other people it is probably great. I mention my sensitivities just to show you what a struggle it is to eat with porphyria plus MS, but with spices and variations we eat a delicious diet. It would be easy to be fat.

[Ted Hutchinson]

Carbonated Cola Drinks Drop Bone Density in Women (http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Osteoporosis/tb/4247)

For Soft Drink Guzzlers, Pancreatic Cancer Is Greater Risk (http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/tb/4471)

Soft Drinks Linked to Metabolic Syndrome Risk (http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/MetabolicSyndrome/tb/6225)

[kciN]

Kelsey

I too endorse the regimen promoted by Direct-MS (http://www.direct-ms.org/).

It was ten years ago that I incorporated diet revision into my life to address my state of Progressive MS. While it is not a miracle cure, the diet did allow me to halt/dramatically slow the progression of my MS. In addition I feel very well and many of my symptoms have either abated or lessened considerably.

Unfortunately I am left with remnant neurological deficits from the active MS part of my life but like many other handicapped folks I am well enough to get through life just fine.

I am an active participant in Direct-MS and we are currently conducting a clinical trial in Scotland where we are placing PwMS on a regimen akin to what I follow and Direct-MS recommends. We’re doing this to provide concrete evidence supporting our contention that diet can have a profound influence on the course of an individual's condition of MS.

I encourage you to visit our site to view many of our educational materials to get an insight into the specifics of diet and MS.

Cheers
Nick

DIRECT-MS material

Booklets

Direct-MS produces information booklets on various aspects of multiple sclerosis. These booklets are listed below and a PDF of each one can be opened and downloaded by clicking on the title. Alternatively we can mail you a hard copy of any of the booklets. Just write (http://www.direct-ms.org/contactus.html)or email (info@DIRECT-MS.org)us and let us know which ones you would like sent to you. Don’t forget to include your mailing address. There is no charge for this service.

Booklet #1 (http://www.direct-ms.org/booklets/TakeControlOfMS.pdf) Take Control of Multiple Sclerosis
This booklet discusses the main causal factors of MS and, with this information as a guide, it lays out our recommendations for nutritional strategies to help control MS.

Booklet #2 (http://www.direct-ms.org/booklets/ProtectYourFamilyFromMS.pdf) Protect Your Family from Multiple Sclerosis
This booklet emphasizes the high risk for contracting MS of first-degree relatives of persons with MS. It discusses the causal factors of MS with special emphasis on vitamin D deficiency as a primary cause. Finally it demonstrates that adequate vitamin D can likely prevent MS in most cases and provides a recommended supplementation regime.

Booklet # 3 (http://www.direct-ms.org/booklets/AlbertaDisadvantage.pdf)Multiple Sclerosis: The Alberta Disadvantage
This booklet demonstrates that the province of Alberta, the home of DIRECT-MS, has by far the highest rates of MS in the world: Prevalence 340/1000,000; Incidence 20/100,000.
Data and arguments are provided to support the argument that the main reason for the “MS Epidemic” is that all the main causal factors are present in Alberta, with low vitamin D supply being especially problematic.

Presentations

We have found that a Voiced PowerPoint presentation (‘Webcast’) is an effective way to communicate the science and the recommendations for nutritional strategies for controlling MS and preventing it in the first place.

Our latest presentation is Potential Therapeutic Characteristics of Pre-agricultural Diets in the Prevention and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (http://wildhorse.insinc.com/directms03oct2007/). The presentation is narrated by Dr Loren Cordain of the Colorado State University. Dr Cordain is a world renowned expert on health and the original human diet and is the author of the “Paleo Diet” and “The Paleo Diet for Athletes”. He explains how returning to a diet based on lean meats, seafood, fruits and vegetables can prevent and help treat MS and other diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Crohn’s Disease.

Our third webcast is Prospects for Vitamin D Nutrition (http://www.insinc.com/onlinetv/directms13oct2005/softvnetplayer.htm). The discussion is narrated by Reinhold Vieth of the departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital and Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto.
Dr. Vieth addresses the topics of:
Vitamin D and Human Evolution
Clinical relevance of higher vitamin D intakes
Toxicology of Vitamin D

Our second webcast is entitled Preventing Multiple Sclerosis (http://www.direct-ms.org/presentation-prevention/hiband/index.html) and is the second in a series of web casts regarding nutrition and Multiple Sclerosis. The focus of the Prevention presentation is how MS can be easily, safely and inexpensively prevented by focusing on protective factors. This is a must see for those people with MS who have children.

Our first webcast, Nutritional Strategies for Controlling Multiple Sclerosis, (http://www.direct-ms.org/presentation-nutrition/index.html) addresses diet and MS. It presents the probable causes of MS and how to effectively control those elements. A review of the protective factors and how to incorporate them into your lifestyle are also covered.

[MS Bites]

I gave up nutrasweet several years ago. I was a diet coke fiend. i was a colaholic. The burning in my body subsided significantly after about a week when I switched to regular Coke.

I then several months later switched to diet rite (splenda) and no caffeine. My bladder problems improved.

I had headaches for a week or so. Headaches subsided.

I strongly recommend dumping nutrasweet.

[BBS1951]

I dumped Diet Cola's when my bone density was tested and it was poor. Now I drink Green tea 1 to 2 cups in the late morning, to give me a slight caffeine lift.

[Braindead]

Any diet that is very low in saturated fats is very good.

Saturated fat raises GAMMA INTERFERON which is very bad for MS folks.

Eating foods that lower MMP-9s is VERY VERY good. Supplements(food extracts in a pill form) may be necessary to get a true therapeudic effect.

Many flavonoids lower MMP-9s quite well.

Braindead