Food intolerances and MND

[The Inspector]

A friend of mine has MND. His weight is now 64 kilos.
He recently had a York food intolerance test. The results were that he has an intolerance to egg white, egg yolk, yeast and cow's milk. The highest intolerance was egg white which was +3. His wife bought dairy free products and excluded eggs from his diet. She was advised strongly however, by his Consultant that it is not a good idea to eliminate these foods from his diet at this stage. He needs as much calories as his body can muster. She was hoping that by cutting these foods out of his diet she would see an improvement in his health.
She rang a local nutritionist and explained his dilemma. She told her that she could put a few drops under his tongue, which would neutralise him so that he would be able to eat eggs, cow's milk etc. again. His consultant advises against this.
(Sorry about the long preamble).
My question is has anyone else had this experience and what did they do? Is it at all possible that his MND could be a reaction against his food intolerances? I know there is some thought that gluten can be implicated in certain similar conditions but has anyone found they were intolerant to a certain food, removed that food from their diet and then found an improvement?
Many thanks.

 

[hboyajian]

I cannot answer your question about food intolerance as related to cause in motor neuron diseases except that I have heard there is no known direct cause that can be scientifically linked to ALS. However, there is an increased incidence in people who have served in the military but it is not known exactly why.
Regarding food choices, I think it would be possible to get good nutrition while eliminating eggs and cow's milk. There are many other sources of protein available. If these foods are causing other uncomfortable reactions or medical problems it does not seem necessary to suffer through that while also dealing with the symptoms of ALS. Keeping as good as possible a quality of life while losing functional abilities seems very important.
Is your friend still able to swallow, or is he on a blended diet or getting nutrition through a PEG tube? AS far as yeast goes, once my dad was eating blended foods, he ate no bread again.

 

[The Inspector]

Thank you hboyajian. He wasn't in the military but he was a fireman. He wondered if the toxic materials he had come into contact with in his career had relevance to his situation. I agree with you inasmuch as he should be able to get full nutrition without the foods to which he is allergic.
The reason I mentioned gluten was because of this article in The Guardian newspaper.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,793501,00.html
He now has difficulty eating and has just been advised to have a PEG fitted.

 

[CindyM]

Hello Inspector. We have quite a few firemen and women in this forum. I think you may be on to something regarding the chemicals. Is your screen name related to your occupation, as well? Cindy

 

[The Inspector]

Hi CindyM,

Interesting, yet disturbing, to hear about the firemen and women on this forum.
Perhaps the powers that be should be investigating the link between ALS\MND and various occupations. The clues must be there if they could all be analysed. For example there was speculation recently about the link between footballers and ALS\MND - the BBC featured it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4291381.stm

The Inspector is just a nickname.