lifestyle

Aptar to operate, develop Biogen’s lifestyle support apps for MS

Under a new agreement, Biogen is transferring ownership of certain digital health solutions ā€” including two existing mobile applications, or apps, offering lifestyle support to people with multiple sclerosis (MS) ā€” to Aptar Digital Health. The collaboration calls for Aptar, part of AptarGroup, to handle product design…

Expert Voices: Functional medicine for people with multiple sclerosis

In this installment of our ā€œExpert Voicesā€ series, Multiple Sclerosis News Today asked Dr. Susan Payrovi, MD, to answer some of your questions about seeking functional medicine care with multiple sclerosis (MS). Payrovi is a clinical assistant professor at Stanford’s Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine. She practices…

Excess Body Fat Spurs Disease Progression by Impact on Immune Cells, Study Suggests

A link between fat molecules calledĀ ceramides andĀ worsening disease in overweight and obese people with multiple sclerosis appears to exist, a study reports, with its findings suggesting that ceramides prompt the growth of immune cells calledĀ monocytes, which in turn spurs disease progression. These results also strengthen the likelihood thatĀ lifestyle factors, like diet and weight, can act as disease modifiers, its researchers said. High body mass index has been linked to the risk of developing MS, but for reasons that aren't clear. One idea is that weight-induced differences in lipids (fat molecules) in the blood, because they are involved in several cellular signaling processes, may affect MS and its course in people with higher BMIs. To test this hypothesis, a team led by researchers atĀ the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at The Graduate Center and at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai analyzed 54 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (MS), ages 18 to 60, and with normal or high BMIs (27 people in each group). Participants were followed for two years. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. A normal BMI is defined as one between 18.5 and 24.9, while a person is considered overweight with a BMI of 25ā€“29.9, and obese it is 30 or higher. Researchers took blood samples, and looked for differences between the groups in terms of both immune cells and blood lipid profiles. They then validated their findings in a separate group of 91 RRMS patients. Patients with high BMIs tended to have more monocytes than those with normal BMIs. Monocytes can travel through the blood to tissues where they develop into macrophages, immune cells with various functions that are best known for "eating" invading bacteria. Monocytes can also travel to the brain and damage nerve fibers. Overweight and obese patients also had significantly higher levels of ceramides compared with normal-weight patients, and the researchers wondered if a link might exist between the two. Through a set of experiments in cells, they discovered that ceramides cause epigenetic changes in monocytes; that is, they alter the way their genomes are "read," so they alter gene activity. Specifically, ceramide-treated cells showed a type of epigenetic change called methylation ā€” which generally turns genes "off" ā€” in genes that normally help prevent cells from dividing. Conceptually, these genetic changes serve to unleash monocytes, leading them to grow more (proliferate) than they otherwise might. The researchers also found more methylation on the genomes of monocytes from high-BMI patients than those from low-BMI patients, and they noted that the overweight or obese patients also tended to have greater disease activity, worse disability progression, and more brain lesions on MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans on follow-up. Finally, the researchers tested a mouse model of MS, giving one group of mice a standard diet and another a high-fat diet. Mice fed the high-fat diet were found to have greater disease severity, more brain lesions, and more monocytes, confirming the findings seen in MS patients. "This study gives us a much-needed view into the environmental influences that can affect and change the behavior of cells in an individual's body," Kamilah Castro, the study's first author, said in a press release. "Our findings suggest that increased levels of saturated fat as a result of dietary habits are one likely cause of the epigenetic changes that advance MS, which gives us a starting point for a potential intervention." According to the team, the findingsĀ support the concept of nutri-epigenomics:Ā that is, the ability of food to alter the way the genetic information is interpreted by each cell, and suggest that "weight management and dietary intervention" might affect MS prognosis. One limitation was the study's small size, its researchers noted. "While we consider our results ā€¦ very exciting and mechanistic, we acknowledge that the potential consideration of ceramide levels as biomarkers for disease progression in MS would require validation ... using larger cohorts with a longitudinal and/or cross-sectional design," they concluded. "It will also be important to evaluate the effectiveness of dietary intervention (with an emphasis on the reduction of specific classes of saturated fats), as potential modulator of plasma ceramide levels and possibly of disease course in MS patients."

Lifestyle Factors Tied to MS-related Depression, Large Study Finds

Changeable lifestyle factors influence the risk and severity of depression associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study based on a large group of patients shows. According to the study,Ā alcohol consumption in particular was linked negatively withĀ depression incidence and severity. In addition, a healthy diet and vitamin D and omega-3 supplementation…

#MSParis2017 ā€“ Quitting Smoking, Boosting Vitamin D Reduces MS Healthcare Costs, Improves Outcomes

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who quit smoking have better health outcomes than those who continue. Therefore, MS-relatedĀ costs can be reduced by encouraging smokers toĀ quit. Similar results were observed in MS patients with healthy vitamin D levels,Ā Maura Pugliatti,Ā from theĀ University of Ferrara, in Italy,Ā said Friday in a presentation at the…

MS Patientā€™s Pick of the Weekā€™s News: Siponimod, Thymosin Patent, Orphan Drug, Lifestyle, and Lymphopenia Risk

Hereā€™s my Pick of the Weekā€™s News, as published in Multiple Sclerosis News Today. Gilenya-like Therapy Shows Benefit in Secondary Progressive MS Patients in Phase 3 Trial Hereā€™s a potentially encouraging development for anyone with SPMS. Patients withĀ secondary progressive multiple sclerosisĀ (SPMS) who were treated withĀ BAF312 (siponimod),…

Lifestyle May Impact MS Disability, Study Suggests

Previous studies have pointed toward certain lifestyle factors such as nutrition, sedentary behavior, and stress as possible key determinants in multiple sclerosis (MS) progression but few studies have been dedicated to learning more about theĀ impact of lifestyle risk factors on patient disability and disease progression. AĀ recent study supports the…

‘My Super Diet Cured My MS! Buy My Book!’

There seems to be general agreement that achieving and keeping an overallĀ level of good health is very important for people living with multiple sclerosis, or with any chronic illness for that matter. And one way to reach that goal, many will say, is to eatĀ a healthy, well-balanced diet. Itā€™s at…

#CMSC16 – Lifestyle Factors and Unconventional Medicine in MS Care

A symposium focused on lifestyle factors and unconventional medicine as part of the clinical care provided to patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) took placeĀ today at theĀ 2016 Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC). The symposium, “Expanding the MS Toolkit: Integrating Lifestyle Factors and Unconventional Medicine…