Multiple sclerosis symptoms get worse if you eat more meat, have changes in your blood, immune system, and gut ecology, says a new study.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects nearly 3 million individuals globally yet costs the US $28 billion per year and causes untold suffering.

MS is more common in certain areas, particularly in the northern mid-latitudes, implying that location is linked to the disease in some way, possibly through food. It’s been difficult to pin down the exact links between food, immunological response, and MS.

MS is an autoimmune illness in which the body targets the protective covering that surrounds the nerves. When the insulation is sufficiently degraded, the nerves begin to misfire and malfunction, much like frayed wires. But it’s unclear what causes the body to destroy the nerve system’s insulation in the first place.

Some studies suggest that bacteria might be the cause of the problem. Our immune system is influenced by the bacteria that live in our stomachs. And the bacteria in our stomachs are influenced by what we eat.

Dr. Yanjiao Zhou of UConn Health School of Medicine and Dr. Laura Piccio of Washington University, who is now at the University of Sydney, studied the gut microbiome, immune systems, diet, and blood metabolites in 49 volunteers—25 MS patients and 24 healthy controls—to see if there were any subtle but significant correlations.

“We found a number of gut bacteria associated with MS and severity of disability of MS patients. We also found increased autoimmune markers and signature metabolites in MS. But what is really interesting is how these systems connect with each other, and how diet is involved in these connections. Using multi-OMICS approaches, we try to close the loop and show the associations between multiple systems,” said Dr. Zhou.

“This is the first study using an integrated approach to analyze the interplay between diet, gut microbiome, the immune system and metabolism and their contribution to disease pathogenesis and progression in people with MS. It opens a new modality to address future scientific questions by not looking at one individual factor, but at their complex interactions. This approach can lead to the identification of relevant networks that could be manipulated for disease prevention or therapeutic intervention,” Piccio added.

The strongest systemic association discovered by the researchers involved meat consumption. Higher meat consumption was associated with a decrease in the number of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron in people’s gut ecology, according to their findings. B. thetaiotaomicron is linked to the digestion of carbohydrates from plants.

Higher meat consumption was associated with an increase in T-helper 17 cells in the immune system, as well as an increase in S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) in the blood of MS patients.

The link between meat consumption and disability and the other characteristics was not predictable; some healthy persons consume a lot of meat. However, the pattern of all the components suggested that in MS, something goes wrong with people’s gut bacteria, disassociating them from the immune system, resulting in more T-helper 17 cells and autoimmune attacks on the nerve system. And it’s usually connected with meat.

The team hopes to expand the study in the future to include more participants, including those with a more severe form of MS. They aim to learn more about the relationship between nutrition, gut bacterial ecosystems, and immune response in the future, and maybe prevent or minimize MS symptoms in patients who have the condition.

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