Anti-Inflammatory Diet May Stave Off MS Relapse

For people with MS, a proinflammatory diet is associated with worsening relapse rate and greater periventricular fluid-attenuated inversion recovery lesion volume, according to a study published in Multiple Sclerosis Journal. Alice M. Saul, PhDcandidate, and colleagues examined whether Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores correlated with measures of MS progression and inflammatory activity in 223 participants with a first clinical diagnosis of central nervous system demyelination. Patients were followed annually for 10 years. DII and energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) scores were calculated at baseline, 5 years, and 10 years, and assessed as predictors of relapses and annualized change in disability. Two MRI measures were also performed and assessed. The risk for relapse was higher with a more pro-inflammatory diet (highest vs lowest E-DII quartile: HR, 2.24). “While an anti-inflammatory diet does not replace anti-inflammatory medications in MS, this study provides evidence that an anti-inflammatory diet could contribute to the health and well-being of people with MS,” Saul and colleagues wrote.