Dietary habits and multiple sclerosis. A retrospective study in Ferrara, Italy

In a retrospective case-control study of multiple sclerosis (MS), set up with the aim of verifying the role of environmental factors in pathogenesis, we included a section on dietary habits. We compared the frequency and pattern of food consumption by cases and controls. We found an association between MS and high consumption of bread and 'pasta', butter and lard, legume soup, horse flesh, coffee and tea in the period from infancy to adolescence. A different pattern of consumption of eggs, wine and mineral water between cases and controls was found during adulthood. Our results support, at least partially, the data already reported in the international literature on an association between certain dietary factors and MS. Some foods consumed at certain 'critical' ages could play a causal role in the onset of MS.