RECENT RESEARCH

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that attacks brain tissues, specifically of which the myelin coating that protects nerve fibers. The brain has cells called OPCs that naturally repair myelin after any damage, but as you age, these OPCs become weaker and lessen in their ability to rebuild myelin. Fragile myelin coating exposes nerve fibers which can eventually break apart the nerve signals it is meant to help create and protect. A paper published in October of 2019 in the journal Cell Stem Cell shows that in rats of old age, fasting caused the rats to act more youthful, which is supposed to have came from the repairing of the myelin coating. The research also noted that the diabetes drug metformin, which can mimic fasting, had similar results to actual fasting in rats. We can conclude from this that fasting may play a part in restoring myelin, which could possibly reverse some effects of multiple sclerosis. This information could lead multiple sclerosis onto the right track of finding more treatments, or even better yet, a cure.

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Neumann, Björn, et al. “Metformin Restores CNS Remyelination

Capacity by Rejuvenating Aged Stem Cells.” Cell Stem Cell, Elsevier Inc, 3 Oct. 2019, www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(19)30350-9?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1934590919303509%3Fshowall%3Dtrue.