Like everyone else, people with MS benefit from a healthy diet.
It’s also an aspect of life which you can control to suit you and your needs.
Eating nutritionally balanced meals helps the body work to its full potential, which is particularly important for people living with long-term, unpredictable conditions like MS. It can improve quality of life and sense of well-being.
A healthy diet, combined with the right exercise, can help:
A healthy diet contains a balance of the major food groups:
These food groups contain nutrients with specific roles and a lack of any of these may cause health problems directly, or affect how other nutrients are absorbed by the body.
Frozen, dried, fresh and tinned fruit and vegetables all count, but the five portions need to be varied, as different fruits and vegetables contain different nutrients.
Include some fresh produce in the five portions, as levels of certain vitamins, including vitamin C, are lower when tinned or dried.
Starchy vegetables like potatoes, do not usually count towards the five portions per day.
One portion might be two or three heaped tablespoons of spinach, an apple or a glass of fruit juice (150ml). However, because juice has less fibre than the whole fruit, it can only count as one portion per day, however much you drink.
With smaller fruits, like apricots or plums, two fruits make up a portion.
Find more on the (External) NHS Eatwell website .
Vitamins and minerals have a number of vital functions in the body.
Certain drug treatments can lower levels of vitamins and minerals in the body and a doctor or dietician may suggest supplements. But a balanced diet usually provides a sufficient supply for most people and there is no evidence that high doses benefit people with MS.
Excess vitamins and minerals can sometimes be harmful.
Research does not support the use of gluten-free or other diets excluding specific foods to treat MS. However, just like anyone else, people with MS can react to particular foods.
If you think you may have an intolerance or allergy, your doctor or dietician can help you look into it further.
Reliable testing for food allergy or intolerance involves following a properly supervised exclusion diet. As this process can be time-consuming and costly, it is worth considering the pros and cons:
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