Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous disorder that weakens the immune system. A study showed that obese adolescent girls affected by MS have opportunities in the future.
During the 40-year study of 238,000 women found that adolescent girls suffer from obesity at the age of 18 years had twice the risk of MS affected than teens of that age have more slender bodies.
Fatty tissue which accumulates as a teenager allegedly memproduki substances that affect the immune system that triggers the possibility of MS.
However, body size during the children and adults are not found in relation to risk of MS. Researchers have made a study report in the journal Neurology. Researchers still need to take further evidence to confirm these findings.
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health used data from the nurses about diet, lifestyle factors and health. During the study, 593 women are diagnosed with MS, a disease caused by loss of nerve fibers and myelin sheath in the brain and spinal cord that makes nerve damage.
Researchers compared the risk of disease with body mass index (BMI) or weight to height ratio, in women aged 18 years. Studies show those who have weight BMI 30 or greater at the age of 18 years had twice the risk of MS.
“Our results indicate that body weight during adolescence is very important in determining the risk of MS,” said Kassandra Munger ScD from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, as quoted by BBC News, Monday (9/11/2009).
“There are many studies that support that adolescence is an important time for the development of the disease, so what we found was associated with it,” he said.
He added that obesity prevention early adolescence is an especially important step in reducing the risk of MS in the future.
Previous research has found vitamin D levels are high can reduce the risk of MS and the researchers showed that obesity associated with low levels of vitamin D in the body.
