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Multiple Sclerosis Diet – Foods you should avoid

Multiple Sclerosis Diet – Foods you should avoid

Multiple sclerosis is an auto immune disease that develops when the body’s immune system begins to attack its own central nervous system.
While there is no specific multiple sclerosis diet plan charted that can cure the condition, eating healthy food might provide relief from its symptoms and promote overall health. A poor diet might increase the disease activity.

There are however some food products that one should avoid if suffering from multiple sclerosis. Here is a list of food and food products that a patient suffering from multiple sclerosis should avoid:

Trans fats
Multiple sclerosis diets must exclude commercially baked cookies, crackers, pies or any other packaged food products that contain trans-fat. Look at the back of the packed food-product in the ingredients section if it contains trans-fat. Some packed food products might exclusively mention “trans-fat free”. It is known that trans-fat increase inflammation inside the blood vessels and could increase multiple sclerosis symptoms.

Saturated fats
Avoid saturated fats while on multiple sclerosis diet. Saturated fats are primarily found in animal-based food products such as red meat and whole fat dairy products. They are also found in food products that contain palm or coconut oil. Saturated fats raise the LDL or bad cholesterol in the body. People who suffer from multiple sclerosis and consume foods that contain saturated fats stand at a higher risk of atherosclerosis, which leads to heart attack, or even heat failure.

Milk
More specifically, cow’s milk contains saturated fat content and proteins that could prove to be detrimental to people suffering from multiple sclerosis. Since the option of milk gets completely eliminated from the daily diet, make sure that your multiple sclerosis diet consists of other sources of calcium, protein, and vitamin.

Sodium
People suffering from multiple sclerosis, who consume sodium on a daily basis are more likely to relapse and deal with the risk of developing new lesions. So in order to avoid this, check for the sodium content on the food labels, and decrease or completely eliminate consuming table salt. Another reason to quit consuming excess sodium is that it increases the blood pressure, which leads to heart problems.

Refined grains
Exclude white rice, white bread, and breakfast cereal from your multiple sclerosis diet. These contain processed carbohydrates that elevate blood sugar and cause heart problems, especially in women who suffer from multiple sclerosis. The high content of sugar leads to excess weight, which in turn increases fatigue. This can be problematic for people suffering from multiple sclerosis. This is because fatigue is one of the common symptoms that a person with multiple sclerosis might experience.