Dive Brief:
- Research by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College shows that a strain of Clostridium perfringens, a food-borne pathogen found on raw meat and poultry that is responsible for close to a million illnesses every year, may be an environmental trigger for multiple sclerosis.
- C. perfringens types B and D have been found to carry an epsilon toxin gene, and in animal studies, that toxin was shown to travel through the blood from the intestines into the brain, where it damaged blood vessels and myelin, causing MS-like symptoms.
- The bacterium and toxin have also been found in MS patients. High intakes of dietary salt have also been linked to the inflammatory disease, which attacks the central nervous system.
Dive Insight:
This breakthrough further underscores the importance of strong food safety measures. While we typically associate food-borne illnesses with upset stomachs — and, in extreme circumstances, death — we don't often consider the full impact they can have on consumers' quality of life. MS is a terrible affliction to have to witness a loved one go through, and if a food-borne bacteria is definitively pinpointed as a direct cause, it could certainly create some consumer uncertainty and potentially hit meat producers in their pockets.
In addition to the dietary causes linked to the condition, there is also this upside: High Vitamin D intake has been said to lower the risk of MS progressing.