Dr. Swank began studying Multiple Sclerosis in 1948. He noted that the
distribution of MS followed that of other diet related diseases. He
developed a diet that cut down on saturated fat and added
polyunsaturated fat to the diet. He published his recomendations in a
book, "The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book" (1). Dr. Swank treated more
than 2,000 patients with his diet, following them for 10 to 40 years.
He found that patients who started treatment in the early stages of MS
responded well, but those who started treatment in later stages did
less well. Overall, after 36 years of treating patients, he found that
79% percent who followed his diet were still alive, while only 30% who
did not were alive. His findings were published in several journal
articles (2) (3). Dr. Swank later relaxed his recomendation that
patients add polyunsaturated oil to their diets, as he found that
patients did well when both saturated and unsaturated fat were
reduced. Dr. Swank’s revised dietary recomendations are similar to the
low fat vegetarian diets advocated for health by Dr. Ornish, Dr.
McDougall, and Dr. Barnard.

Dr. Swank’s work has been criticized on the net for not following the
blinded, controlled studies which are the "gold standard" in medical
research. A little thought shows that long term dietary changes of the
sort he advocates cannot be blinded. Similarly, they cannot be
randomized, as there is no way to force a person to follow a diet they
do not wish to follow for the length of time required. The best that
can be done is to compare outcomes. And since half of all persons
diagnosed with MS die within 10 years of diagnosis, Dr. Swank’s
results compare favorably with standard treatment. Although it would
be nice to see Dr. Swank’s work repeated by another researcher, I
think his diet can be advocated to persons with MS today since it
entails no health risk and can be combined with other treatments for
MS.

(1) Swank RL, Dugan BB. "The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book". New York,
    Doubleday, 1987.
(2) Swank, R. "Multiple sclerosis: twenty years on low fat diet".
    Arch. Neurol. 23:460, 1970.
(3) Swank, R. "Multiple sclerosis: the lipid relationship". Am. J.
    Clin. Nutr. 48:1387, 1988.

–
Bernie Simon                    If cryptography is outlawed
(bsi…@stsci.edu)          Bayl bhynjf jvyy hfr pelcgbtencul

<psaf…@rt66.com> writes:

Another information source may be:

Judith Campbell
Health Awareness, Inc.
18 Old Padonia Rd
Cockeysville, MD 21030  phone 410-560-6804

An MS patient herself, she used complementary therapies successfully. This
is a not-for profit resource — only provides health information about
alternative health options. No referrals. Best wishes in your search.