Evaluation of dietary advice for multiple sclerosis

Summary

People diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) commonly search online for dietary advice to manage their symptoms and/or control their disease, however, this advice may be unreliable and/or contradictory. Furthermore, ‘MS diets’ promoted online may be restrictive and not aligned with the dietary guidelines. This is concerning given people living with MS (pwMS) are at increased risk of malnutrition associated with symptoms such as dysphagia and fatigue. The problem is exacerbated by a mismatch between pwMS, who desire specific dietary guidelines for MS, and healthcare professionals (HCPs), who are aware of national dietary guidelines but appear disengaged from diet-related conversations at the time of diagnosis.

Currently, there are no known tools that compare ‘MS diets’ with Australian dietary guidelines, and no studies that have explored associations between dietary guideline adherence and MS health outcomes in an Australian population of pwMS.

Previous research has investigated online dietary advice for MS; however, an update is required given the dynamic nature of internet content and the advancement of search tools from traditional search engines to AI-based large language models.

The aim of this research is, therefore, to determine whether online dietary advice for MS promotes adherence with the Australian Dietary Guidelines and explore associations with health outcomes in MS. Given the variation in national dietary guidelines between countries and a requirement to analyse dietary intake data according to regional guidelines, this research will be undertaken in the context of Australian observational data and Australian dietary guidelines.