w-up studies have indicated that excessive dietary fat may lead to more severe disease outcomes (7:66-85).
Other evidence for an association between fat nutrition and multiple sclerosis includes the fact that 60% of the brain's solid matter and 70% of its myelin sheath consist of lipid (8:373-389). Those lipid components which cannot be synthesized--and must, therefore, come from dietary sources--are called essential fatty acids (21:179-185). Brain essential fatty acids consist primarily of the long-chain derivatives of linoleic acid (C18:2) and a-linolenic acid (C18:3). These two compounds are synthesized by plants. Sinclair (1956) suggested that diets high in animal fat would have a relative deficiency of essential fatty acids (23:381-382). This, the study presumed, might affect myelin function. For example, in humans, 70% of adult brain cells and their long-chain essential fatty acid derivatives are formed before birth, with postnatal brain development emphasizing myelination. Thus, post-natal nutrition and breast feeding could conceivably affe
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