Food Allergies & Increased Disease Activity In MS

Recently, we featured a Facebook post that mentioned the results of two major US studies, including one that looked at the links between multiple sclerosis and food allergies (the other on asthma and MS can be found here).  There were many requests for a more detailed summary of this research and, as always, we strive to provide you with information that is of the most interest to you and respond to your feedback….so without further ado, here is the article:

Research Summary: Food allergies are associated with increased disease activity in multiple sclerosis.

WHAT?

The study looked at whether there was a link between a history of allergic conditions and disease activity in people living with multiple sclerosis.

WHO?

The research was conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, USA.

HOW?

The study involved 1,349 people living with multiple sclerosis, who all filled out a questionnaire about their history of environmental, food and drug allergies.  The clinical features and imaging data was compared between the allergy groups.

WHEN AND WHERE?

The article was published online in December, 2018, in the “Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry”.  The abstract can be found here.

FACT #1: A number of risk factors for multiple sclerosis exist that all seem to tie into the functioning of the immune system.

FACT #2:  There is no evidence to date that allergies increase the risk of developing multiple sclerosis.

FACT #3:  The possibility that allergies worsen disease progression in multiple sclerosis has not been extensively investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to answer that question.

FINDING #1:  Of all of the participants in the study, 427 reported having no known allergies and 922 reported experiencing some sort of allergic condition (586 with an environmental allergy, 574 with a drug allergy and 238 with a food allergy).

FINDING #2: People with food allergies were found to be twice as likely to have new enhancing brain lesions compared to those with no known allergies.  They were also found to be slightly more likely to have a higher rate of cumulative MS ‘attacks’.  Both of these findings were statistically significant.

THOUGHT:  This study provides some interesting new evidence that suggests that food allergies may be linked to worse outcomes in multiple sclerosis.  It will be important now to confirm these results in a larger study that has more sensitive markers of food allergies, rather than solely relying on people to self-report. 

THOUGHT: It is possible that the relationship with food allergies and MS activity may be linked to the gut microbiome.  As we know, this is a growing area of interest in multiple sclerosis research (and health in general) and this may represent another area to explore.

THOUGHT:  If this result is confirmed, it will be important to understand exactly how food allergies are playing a role in increasing disease activity in multiple sclerosis.  If this can be achieved, it may help open up new and alternative avenues for treatment.