MS: Dietary interventions may �calm down the immune system'

Islamabad (Pakistan Point News / Online - 16th February, 2020) A study in mice has shown that a change in diet may slow diseases that involve the activation of the immune system, such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

Could the findings lead to improved treatments in humans?Meat and eggs typically contain the highest amounts of methionine.In the United States, nearly 1 million people over the age of 18 are living with a diagnosis of MS, according to estimates.

MS is the most common of the inflammatory disorders with an autoimmune component, which refers to the immune system attacking and damaging healthy tissue.In MS, the immune system attacks the myelin sheaths that protect the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, disrupting nerves' messages to and from the brain.

The effects of reducing methionine intakeWhile methionine is essential to a healthy immune system, it has an adverse effect on people at risk of autoimmune disease.Russell Jones, Ph.D., of the Van Andel Institute, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is the study's senior author.

He comments on the findings, explaining:"Our results suggest [that] for people predisposed to inflammatory and autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis, reducing methionine intake can actually dampen the immune cells that cause disease, leading to better outcomes.

"Many types of cell throughout the body produce methionine, a building block of protein and a form of fuel.Defensive immune cells that respond to threats called T cells do not produce their own methionine and instead rely on dietary sources.

Why dietary interventions are key"These findings provide further basis for dietary interventions as future treatments for these disorders," Jones notes."By restricting methionine in the diet, you're essentially removing the fuel for this overactive inflammatory response without compromising the rest of the immune system.

"- Russell Jones, Ph.D.However, before dietary guidelines can be established, researchers must prove that humans also experience these effects.At present, there is no comprehensive understanding of the cause of MS, although genes related to the immune system play a role, as do environmental and metabolic factors, such as obesity.