‘Empowered By’ a first-of-its-kind live video event connecting viewers and guests with groundbreaking innovations and treatments in the health and wellness space. This show will offer unprecedented access to scientists, doctors and experts in the medical profession mixed with the true life experience and case studies of people in all stages of MS.
In this show, we will be discussing the subject of MS and diet with Dr. Patrizia Casaccia, a top researcher from Mt. Sinai in New York City. She is studying the effects of a good and bad diet in MS (and wow, does she have some interesting data so far), as well as an introduction to the concept of the microbiome (which is the bacteria in the gut).
Meet The Guests
Tiffany S Campbell: living with RRMS since 2006. Tiffany lost 80 pounds through working to eliminate sugar and dairy from her diet and improved her symptoms of MS.
Dr. Patrizia Cassaccia: a researcher and professor at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine who is focusing her research in regenerative and personalized medicine and specifically studying diet and the microbiome in MS.
Below were the points made on the sidebar during the show.
Please note there is much more information in the webcast itself and these in no way are medical recommendations but the subjects we discussed.
- There is NOT one diet that works for everyone. Everyone is different. You have to take into consideration that a personalized diet is the best way to go because each of us is a result of the microbiotic exposure throughout our life.
- There is a choice to make in the face of MS – you choose to love what you putting in your mouth in the moment, or you to choose to love yourself. This is the catalyst for change.
- In Dr. Cassaccia’s experiments with mice, she showed feeding mice with MS a high salt/high fat diet led to disabled legs, a flaccid tail, and an inability to control the bladder. Please note that results have yet to be published on this study, but there seems to be a drastic difference in what happens to mice who eat high salt and high fat diets, versus mice who eat a ketogenic diet.
- 80% of our immune system is around the gut, and as a result of factors such as antibiotics over time (from a young age), our environment, and even the soil our food is grown in (which has less nutrients), we lose good bacteria in our gut.
- Dr. Cassaccia has a published experiment (study also in link below) showing evidence that having good bacteria on in the gut can correlate with myelin regeneration.
- When eating, simplicity is good.
- If you eat fruits, think lower sugar! For examples, berries instead of bananas
- Myelin is a fat. You need fat in your brain. There is a difference between good fat (avocadoes and olive oil) versus bad fat (McDonald’s French fries).
- If you are going to eat fish, choose wild fish versus farm raised.
Helpful Videos & Slides
- The Lead Up to Kate Milliken’s Diagnosis
- A mouse from Dr. Cassaccia’s study who has MS and has been fed a high fat/high salt diet
- The Definition of the Microbiome
- Terry Wahl’s Diet
- Furhman’s Diet
- Food, Medicine and Disease Balance
Additional Links
- Dr. Cassaccia’s study results on the microbiome
- Jan Brody’s article about dairy and MS
Want to learn more? Watch the entire broadcast of Empowered By: MS And Diet and let us know what you think.
We hope to see you on May 25th at 1PM EST when we discuss depression and MS with Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Adam Kaplin.
