Beating MS With a Natural Diet - By Ashley Welch, Everyday Health Staff Writer

After being diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2000, Terry Wahls, MD, expected to lose mobility within 10 years. A former runner and taekwondo competitor, Dr. Wahls was strong, but the disease soon began to take its toll. By 2003, Wahls, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, had transitioned to secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis and underwent chemotherapy in an attempt to slow the disease. Extreme fatigue and back pain set in, and Wahls began using a tilt-recline wheelchair. It became clear she could eventually become bedridden. Wahls and her family first hit the national spotlight in January 2011, when her son, Zach, an engineering student at the University of Iowa, testified before the Iowa State House of Representatives opposing a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. A video of his moving speech, in which Zach spoke of being raised by a lesbian couple — Wahls and her spouse, Jackie Reger — and about the difficulty of having a mother living with multiple sclerosis, went viral, receiving 1.5 million views within two weeks. Vitamins and Supplements for MS Just was Zach advocated for gay marriage, Wahls works to make a difference for people like herself who are living with MS. Facing the possibility of serious disability, the fifth-generation Iowan decided to do everything in her power to slow the progress of her MS. She began searching the Internet for the latest multiple sclerosis research, and relearned biochemistry, cellular physiology, and neuroimmunology, so she could understand the studies. Unfortunately, she found, many involved tests on drugs or other treatments that were years away from FDA approval. Then it occurred to Wahls that maybe her diet could play a role in improving her MS symptoms. She searched for vitamins and supplements that had been found to help any kind of progressive brain disorder, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Lou Gehrig's disease, and made a list of those she thought she should include in her diet. After six months of taking omega 3s, B vitamins, and amino acid supplements, Wahls decided to give up on her new supplement routine. But the very next day, she says, she noticed a sharp decline in her well-being. "I felt exhausted and just couldn't get out of bed," she recalls. "It convinced me that maybe the vitamins and supplements weren't making me better, but they certainly seemed to be slowing down the speed of my decline." Will the Paleo Diet Work Against MS? In the summer of 2007, Wahls discovered the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) in Washington, an organization devoted to helping doctors and health providers use the latest scientific research to take better care of patients with complex disease. With the institution's help, she came up with a longer list of vitamins and supplements that are good for the brain. Then she had an epiphany: What if she redesigned her diet so that she was getting those important nutrients from food rather than from supplements? It was then she decided to create the Wahls Diet, a nutritional plan based on the Paleo, or hunter-gatherer, diet, and everything she learned from the IFM and her own research. Wahls changed her diet because she believed that "food is the most important thing we can do to restore our health, or to destroy it, more so than any other choices we make." The results of her nutrition plan astounded Wahls, her physician, and her family. Within a year, she was able to walk through the hospital without a cane and even complete an 18-mile bicycle tour. The Wahls Diet, along with a program of progressive exercise, electrical stimulation, and daily meditation is currently in clinical trials at the University of Iowa to see if it can have the same impact on others as it did on Wahls. The Role of MS Remission As a physician, Wahls knows that until the clinical trial is completed, it's unclear whether her diet plan actually helped her MS symptoms. Ellen Mowry, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at the John Hopkins Medicine Institute and an MS expert, notes that multiple sclerosis differs greatly from person to person, and that remission — rather than diet and exercise — could be responsible for any alleviation of Wahls' symptoms. "The time between one relapse and the next is really variable between one person and the next," says Dr. Mowry. "Sometimes a patient may have one relapse and even without treatment, never have one again. Others may go 10 years before the next relapse, and still others may have relapses every couple of months." Mowry also says that more scientific research needs to be done on the role diet might play in treating MS, but switching to a more nutritious diet will usually help patients’ well-being. "Most Americans don’t eat a healthy diet," she says, "so when they switch to a healthier one, they tend to feel better. But it’s hard to know if the diet is actually helping the MS per se, or if it’s helping because it’s adding to the patient’s overall well-being." For Wahls, an important part of her recovery has been her family — wife Jackie, son Zach, and daughter Zebby. "Living with MS is far easier when you have a loving, committed family by your side," says Wahls. Jackie helped Wahls figure out how to structure her diet, while her children helped with housework as she became more disabled. Speaking of Zach's testimony before the Iowa legislature, says Wahls, "Jackie and I both watched the speech with tears in our eyes. It’s clear that he touched on something that has really resonated with many, many Americans. We are very proud of what he’s doing and the choices he’s making." Zach is the author of the book My Two Moms, which was published in April 2012. Wahls has written a book as well, called Minding My Mitochondria. She gives lectures and webinars locally and across the country to spread the word about her success with her diet. http://www.everydayhealth.com/multiple-sclerosis/beating-ms-with-natural-diet.aspx?xid=aol_eh-ms_5_20131202_&aolcat=AJA&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl11%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D414863