Diets With High Meat Content Might Have Link to MS
Preidt, Robert
Reporter for HealthDay
THE FIRST DAY OF FEBRUARY, 2022 (HealthDay News) — If you’re looking for a way to feel better, According to a new study, eating a lot of meat may put you at risk for multiple sclerosis (MS).
MS is an autoimmune disorder in which the body assaults the nerves’ covering. It’s unclear what causes the attack, although research suggests microorganisms may be involved. The immune system is influenced by gut bacteria, and gut bacteria is influenced by nutrition.
Researchers evaluated 25 MS patients and 24 healthy persons to understand more about the relationship between food, gut flora, the immune system, and MS.
Dr. Yanjiao Zhou, an assistant professor of medicine at UConn Health School of Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut, said, “We detected a number of gut bacteria related with MS and severity of disability of MS patients.”
“In MS, we discovered an increase in autoimmune markers and hallmark metabolites. But what’s truly fascinating is how these systems interact with one another, and how diet plays a role in this “Zhou stated in a press statement from the University of Connecticut.
According to a study published online Jan. 27 in the journal EBioMedicine, eating more meat, having lower levels of particular bacteria in the stomach, and having more of certain immune cells in the blood were all linked to MS.
Higher meat consumption was connected to reduced gut levels of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a bacteria involved in the digestion of carbohydrates from vegetables, in MS patients.
Increased meat consumption was also linked to an increase in T-helper 17 cells in the immune system and blood S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM).
The findings show that something disconnects persons with MS’s gut bacteria from their immune system, resulting in autoimmune attacks on the nerve system, according to the researchers. They speculated that this sequence is linked to meat consumption.
“This is the first study adopting an integrated method to investigate the interplay between food, gut microbiota, immune system, and metabolism” and their contribution to MS development, according to study author Dr. Laura Piccio. Piccio, who previously worked at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is an associate professor of neurology at the University of Sydney.
The researchers hope to expand their study to include additional participants, including MS patients who have a more severe form of the disease. The goal is to learn more about how food, gut bacteria, and the immune system interact in MS in order to prevent or alleviate symptoms.
Additional information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more information on multiple sclerosis.
SOURCE: University of Connecticut, January 27, 2022 news release
