You are what you eat. Diet and Disease

Libbey JE, Doty DJ, Sim JT, Cusick MF, Round JL, Fujinami RS. The effects of diet on the severity of central nervous system disease: One part of lab-to-lab variability. Nutrition. 2016 Jan 21. pii: S0899-9007(16)00039-3. 

OBJECTIVE:Many things can impact the reproducibility of results from laboratory to laboratory. For example, food from various sources can vary markedly in composition. We examined the effects of two different food sources, the Teklad Global Soy Protein-Free Extruded Rodent Diet (irradiated diet) and the Teklad Sterilizable Rodent Diet (autoclaved diet), on central nervous system disease.
METHODS: Three preclinical models for human disease: Two different experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis models (multiple sclerosis) and the Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus-induced seizure model (epilepsy), were examined for the effects of two different food sources on disease.
RESULTS: We found that mice fed the irradiated diet had more severe clinical disease and enhanced seizures compared with animals provided the autoclaved diet in both experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis models examined and in the Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus-induced seizure model, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS:Therefore, just altering the source of food (lab chow) can have marked effects on disease severity and outcome.


In the methods of a paper you write your methods such as "animals were fed on RM-1E diet ad libitum" etc. So animals were free access to given Rat Mouse One Expanded Diet. This study shows that diet can influence disease severity. I am sure many of you will say that diet can influence MS activity. Is it the content or is it that one batch  just tastes bad

A guy in the States once reported that if you feed pregant cats with irradiated diet you can get demyelination. Bizarre

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