Eating a healthy diet is important for people with MS. While food can't cure MS, it can help manage symptoms, boost energy, and improve overall well-being.
A nutritious diet supports a healthy body, heart health, and the immune system by influencing metabolism and gut bacteria. Along with regular physical activity, these choices can maximize your brain health.
What to Eat When Living With MS
There are many diets that people living with MS have found helpful. The diet with the most evidence is the Mediterranean diet which includes foods that are considered to help limit overall inflammation and may help to manage MS symptoms. The Mediterranean diet focuses on fresh food, with healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, and lean proteins, along with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.
Cooking most of your meals at home using whole, nutritious ingredients is a healthy way to get nutrients that support your body. Whole ingredients haven't been heavily processed. They give your body essential nutrients with little to no added chemicals.
What Foods to Avoid
Foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fat can promote or increase inflammation in the body so it's best for everyone to limit or avoid these types of food choices.
Highly processed foods have added chemicals, fake flavouring, colours and preservatives that make them more pleasant to eat and to last longer on the shelf but they promote overeating and lack the healthy nutrients that your body needs.
It’s also recommended to limit alcohol consumption. As your body breaks down alcohol, it can increase inflammation. In addition, alcohol can make some MS symptoms worse like cognitive changes, and problems with balance and bladder.
How a Healthy Diet Can Support Living Well With MS
A healthy diet supports your overall health and can help reduce the effects of MS. You may find you have more energy and are better able to manage MS symptoms. These benefits can improve your quality of life and allow you to participate in more of the activities you enjoy.
Healthier food choices may also help with decreasing body fat and maintaining a healthy body shape and weight, which could help reduce symptoms of the disease. You also lower your risk of developing other health conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, or depression which can worsen symptoms and increase disease activity. If you are unsure where to start, Canada’s Food Guide is a great resource to start your nutritional journey.
Special Diets and MS
There isn't a single diet for MS, but several diets have been tried for people with MS. Most of these diets focus on avoiding foods that are hypercaloric, rich in saturated fat, sugar, processed meats, and rather increasing fresh food and vegetables. It's important to consult your doctor before making significant changes to your diet.
The Mediterranean diet includes a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains like oats and brown rice, healthy fats from olive oil, fish and seafood, nuts and seeds, beans and lentils, some dairy like yogurt and cheese, less red meat, and a lot of herbs and spices for flavour. Research suggests that routinely following the Mediterranean diet may improve quality of life and lower disability levels in people with MS.
The DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy while cutting down on salt and added sugars. This diet promotes heart-healthy foods that may also help manage inflammation.
The MIND diet combines the Mediterranean and DASH diets (Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay), and includes leafy greens, berries, nuts, whole grains, fish, and olive oil, while reducing red meat, butter, cheese, and processed foods. Research suggests this diet may be associated with brain tissue preservation, reduced fatigue, and improved cognitive function.
The Paleolithic diet, or Paleo diet, includes leafy green vegetables, lean meats, plant proteins, soy, and nuts. It avoids dairy and processed foods. It's reported that people with MS who follow this diet with the help and supervision of health professionals report improvements in fatigue. If you follow the Paleo diet, make sure you are getting enough of the right nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D, and B vitamins that may be missing from this diet.
Because it excludes some food groups, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
The Wahls Protocol diet includes meats, fish, nuts, vegetables, and fruits, but cuts out processed foods, grains, beans, potatoes, cereals, dairy, and eggs. It also suggests taking supplements like vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, calcium, vitamin B complex, zinc, and antioxidants to support health and manage MS symptoms.
This lifestyle plan combines a Paleo-inspired diet with vitamins, meditation, and exercise.
Some evidence suggests that this diet can help reduce fatigue and improve quality of life for people with MS. Because it excludes some food groups, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
The Swank diet focuses on eating less saturated fat and more fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats like nuts, seeds and olive oil. It includes fish, poultry, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products.
Research suggests that this diet may help reduce fatigue and improve the quality of life for people with MS.
Because it excludes some food groups, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
The Overcoming MS diet focuses on plant-based foods and includes fish and seafood. It cuts out processed foods, eggs, meat, dairy, and saturated fats. Daily supplements of flaxseed oil or fish oil are recommended with this diet, and additional supplements may be needed to ensure you get enough nutrients like protein, iron, and calcium.
This diet is part of a larger lifestyle program that includes exercise, meditation, and medical treatment.
Some small studies have shown that this lifestyle program improved mental and physical quality of life for people with MS.
Because it excludes some food groups, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
The Best Bet diet recommends avoiding dairy, grains, legumes, sugary foods, eggs and yeast, while also cutting down on fats, salt, and alcohol.
The diet focuses on eating fish, lean meats, fruits, vegetables, and olive oil, along with taking supplements like vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids.
Because it excludes some food groups, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
The McDougall diet focuses on starchy vegetables and whole grains like potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, brown rice, quinoa, oats, and beans. It limits olive oil and animal products like eggs and dairy. Studies found that following the McDougall diet didn't change MS disease activity, but it did help reduce fatigue, lower weight, cholesterol, and insulin levels.
Because it excludes some food groups, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
Calorie restriction means eating fewer calories by cutting out high-calorie foods with lots of fats and sugars. Research shows that eating fewer calories can help reduce inflammation. Some studies also find that people with MS experience better mental health and well-being with calorie restricted diets.
Because it restricts caloric intake, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
Intermittent fasting is a way of eating where you have times of not eating (fasting) and eating. It focuses on when you eat instead of what you eat. While more research is needed to fully understand its effects, intermittent fasting may reduce inflammation. Always check with your healthcare provider before starting any new diet. Because it restricts caloric intake, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
The ketogenic (keto) diet is low in carbohydrates and high in fat. This diet produces substances called ketones in the blood, which might help reduce inflammation. Ketones are produced when your body burns fat for energy, instead of carbohydrates. People with MS on the ketogenic diet report feeling better, less tired, and less depressed. This diet may be associated with vitamin deficiencies, weight loss, and stomach problems so it’s important to speak with your healthcare provider before starting a keto diet.
Some people report feeling better when they limit how much gluten they have in their diet, but gluten-free diets have not been shown to significantly impact MS disease activity. Because it can restrict intake of fibre, it's important to work with your healthcare team to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need.
Nutrition and MS: From the Perspectives of a Person Living With MS, an MS Nurse, and a Researcher
Hearing different perspectives on this topic gives you a better understanding of what may work and how others make healthy dietary choices. Neurologist and researcher, Catherine Larochelle, notes that because of the complexity of MS, there isn't a specific diet that's best, but leaning toward healthier dietary choices could help to reduce disease activity.
Meanwhile, Peggy Cook, an MS resource nurse, talks about how highly processed foods, especially those that are high in sodium and sugar, can increase sluggishness and fatigue, which may decrease your energy levels. However, eating well-balanced foods could improve your well-being and mood.
For one person living with MS, the diagnosis was a wake-up call to focus more on nutrition, and diet became an important part of her disease management plan. She pays attention to how different foods affect her symptoms and adjusts her diet accordingly. For example, her numbness and stiffness get worse with higher sodium consumption, so she now skips highly processed and salty foods.
Hear more from Dr. Larochelle, Peggy, and Marielle about their take on Nutrition and MS on our blog: Nutrition and MS | MS Canada
Check out our Nutrition and MS: Hear from the Experts webinar for more valuable insights on how nutrition can impact MS
Selecting Nutritious Choices
The foods you eat can help support the health of your brain and body. Eating healthily might help improve some of your MS symptoms. As you think about what you eat, pay attention to how different foods make you feel to find options that work for you.
Eating a varied, balanced diet of nutritious foods will help support your body's needs. Work with your health care team to find options that nourish your body and minimize your symptoms. Pairing a healthy diet with other healthy lifestyle changes, like getting a good night's sleep, and regular physical activity, can help you feel better and keep some symptoms of MS under control.
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