MS and Obesity: What’s the Connection?

Girls aged younger than 20 years who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new literature analysis.

To confirm the link between the 2 conditions, the researchers searched PubMed using Medical Subject Heading terms like “multiple sclerosis,” “obesity,” and “overweight,” as well as text words as to not restrict searches.

According to the researchers, all of the included studies showed an association between overweight/obesity and the presence of MS in individuals younger than 20 years. However, while the correlation was found to be especially true in girls, the same correlation in boys was not significant.

“There is a need for more and larger studies to investigate the molecular mechanisms that link obesity and MS,” the researchers concluded.

—Colleen Murphy

Reference:

Rasul T, Frederiksen JL. Link between overweight/obese in children and youngsters and occurrence of multiple sclerosis. J Neurol. 2018;265(12):2755-2763. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-018-8869-9.