Genetic Link in Multiple Sclerosis?

Three separate studies have both come up with the same discovery regarding Multiple Sclerosis (MS) that can have great consequences in future treatments for the disease.

MS is a disease of the central nervous system that affects about 350,000 people in the United States and more than 2.5 million people around the world. Symptoms range from mild muscle weakness to partial or complete paralysis.

It is still believed that geographical location and genetics plays a role in developing this disease, but these new discoveries help strengthen the genetic role theory. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at Harvard Medical School led teams of international researchers who scanned the entire human genome of more than 12,000 people for MS risk factors. They uncovered two new gene suspects, both of which are thought to play a role in autoimmune disease, lending insight into other genetic factors that raise a person’s risk for MS.

Meanwhile, two separate studies were published in the journal, Nature Genetics. Both again discovered increased incidence of a particular genome in people with MS.

What is important to take away from these studies is that this gives researchers and practitioners a new understanding of what triggers MS and could change the way the disease is treated, and maybe even prevented, in the future!

I have presented to multiple MS groups in the past on both nutrition and fitness and have researched this disease quite thoroughly, myself. It is still believed that there is an inherited risk for the disease, as well as a theory that people who live in colder, darker areas of the work are at higher risk. There is speculation that the lack of adequate vitamin D, which is increased with more exposure to sun and sunlight, increases the risk of MS. Although there is no special diet that eliminates or ‘cures’ the disease, as some people claim, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and healthy fats can maintain a healthy body and weight. Although there are certain precautions that are important to follow with exercise, exercise can help keep a person with MS more mobile and independent because it maintains muscles strength and coordination. This latest discovery may mean new treatments for this very scary and unpredictable disease.

To read both studies, click these links:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa073493v1

http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ng2103.html