Giving Compass' Take:

• A team of investigators has found new evidence connecting food allergies and relapses of multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory disease activity.

• How can donors help provide funds to support research in on MS? What questions will arise from this link to food allergies?

• Here's another unusual thing allergies have been linked to. 

"Some multiple sclerosis patients with significant allergies would complain of frequent relapses associated with their allergic episodes," said Tanuja Chitnis, MD, senior author and a neurologist at the Partners MS Center at the Brigham. "We felt that the most likely mechanism associated with allergy and its influence on MS would be related to inflammatory activity."

Accordingly, Chitnis and colleagues set out to investigate the association between inflammatory disease activity and allergy history in a subset of patients enrolled in a large study known as the Comprehensive Longitudinal Investigation of Multiple Sclerosis at Brigham and Women's Hospital (CLIMB). A total of 1,349 study participants completed a self-administered questionnaire outlining food, environmental and/or drug allergies. Disease activity was assessed through evaluating the cumulative number of attacks over disease course, and new gadolinium (Gad)-enhancing lesions, as detected by MRI.

Read the full article on the link between food allergies and multiple sclerosis by the staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital