Nutrition And Multiple Sclerosis: An Annotated Bibliography
1. Alter, Milton; Yamour, Mohammed. Multiple sclerosis prevalence and nutritional factors. Transactions of the American Neurological Association. 98:253 254; 1978.
This 2 page summary examines the relation between the distribution of multiple sclerosis (MS) and various measures of nutrition. The authors reasoned that a causal connection between diet and MS might be delineated by the association of some diet component with disease frequency. It was found that both the prevalence of MS and the per capita consumption of various dietary factors described parabolas when plotted against latitude. Correlations between dietary measures and MS prevalence were statistically significant only for "percent calories of animal origin" and "total calories made up of fats and oils." When combined, the multiple correlate was 0.70. This high positive correlation may suggest that consumption of animal fat is related to the etiology of muscular sclerosis.
2. Alter, M.; Yamoor, M.; Harshe, M. Multiple sclerosis and nutrition. Archives of Neurology. 31:267 272; 1974, October.
The study emphasizes the association between local diets and the geographic distribution of MS. MS prevalence is analyzed with respect to average daily per capita consumption of fats/oils, protein, calories, and calories of animal origin. Of these dietary components, only calories of animal origin and fats/oils correlated significantly with muscular sclerosis prevalence. The combined correlate of 0.70 suggests that consumption of animal/fat may be related to development of the disease. Various possible mechanisms by which this might occur are postulated (i.e, biochemical alteration of central myelin, etc.).
3. Balasubramanian, A. S.; Bachhawat, B. K. Sulfate metabolism in the brain. Brain Research. 20:341 360; 1970.
The article begins by describing sulfate activation. The reaction r...