I was wondering if someone, with the know how, could read the below passage, taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myalgic_encephalomyelitis
and explain, in layman terms, how/if going on the 100% Sample Diet would help?
My mother is in a bad way at the moment and i'm trying to make her life better.
MASSIVE thankyou to everyone.
Dietary/nutritional modification
Essential Fatty Acid Treatments
In 1990 the Behans found in CFS patients, reduced cell membrane essential fatty acids that are suggestive of chronically elevated utilization and production of essential fatty acid metabolites, given that diets were not deficient. [210] And confirmed more recently [211] These metabolites are the basis for many immune product responses in the body, exhaustion of the cell membrane feedstocks, means a compromised immune response. Essential fatty acids are essential because they must be obtained in the diet, as our bodies cannot manufacture them. It is not simply a matter of eating more foods that contain them because there is enzyme competition for the processing and incorporation of the acids and their products. [212]
Given this discovery a trial was carried out by Horriban and Behan in 1990 using high doses of supplemental essential fatty acids of mixed types. A large number of CFS patients were given the supplements and on testing after 3 months their cellular membrane phospholipids (feedstock’s) had returned to normal or towards normal and symptoms had improved [213] It was thought that CFS involved a deficiency in the D6D enzyme for fatty acid metabolite production. Unfortunately later attempts to duplicate the work met with mixed results. [214]
This can be explained because these trials did not attempt to control for other intake or lifestyle factors that effect essential fatty acid utilization. For instance the amounts of different fats in the diet, amount of protein, alcohol, zinc and magnesium status, exercise amounts, level of conditioning, stress and other infections etc. all affect the results. Other nutrients may be deficient in CFS that can also effect utilization. [215]
Essential fatty acid profiles of cell membranes can be manipulated and the produced metabolites (immune products) altered by carefully planned diets, which is important in CFS, as it means that immune responses producing symptoms can be tweaked.
In the early 1990’s Martinovic carried out a clinical trial on CFS patients in which such factors were controlled for and obtained remarkable results, many of whom became fit for work, after about 4 months, and were still well 16 months later. The trial used essential fatty acid modulation rather than supplementation, in which the dietary intake was adjusted for each patient, and varied according to their symptom fluctuations. Exercise and activity, physical and mental was set according to patient abilities, such that exacerbation of symptoms did not occur and levels increased over time to set formula. Cognitive behaviour (CB) was used to show patients (make cognitive) how symptoms varied with activity and dietary changes. Also behaviour therapy, (BT) was applied so that patients learnt to adjust the factors for themselves. [216]
The protocol for this therapy has yet to be published. Unfortunately it is not a ‘one pill fits all’ type of treatment, as each patient requires individual adjustments, and therefore more time consuming than practical under General Practitioner attendances under Medicare. It does however demonstrate the potential and point to an area for future research.
Subsequent work by researchers at an Australian University of Newcastle has confirmed an alteration in the D6D enzyme activity,[217] and therefore an inability in CFS to produce sufficient immune metabolites, unless enzyme competition is reduced such as in the Martinovic trial using modulation.[216] This explains the difference in results between modulation and supplementation and the reason why simple fatty acid supplementation by itself may be ineffective
