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The Low Glutamate Diet Effectively Improves Pain and Other Symptoms of Gulf War Illness

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a multisymptom disorder including widespread chronic pain, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems. The objective of this study was to examine the low glutamate diet as a treatment for GWI. Forty veterans with GWI were recruited from across the US. Outcomes included symptom s...

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Autores principales: Holton, Kathleen F., Kirkland, Anna E., Baron, Michael, Ramachandra, Shalini S., Langan, Mackenzie T., Brandley, Elizabeth T., Baraniuk, James N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7551234/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32859032
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12092593
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author Holton, Kathleen F.
Kirkland, Anna E.
Baron, Michael
Ramachandra, Shalini S.
Langan, Mackenzie T.
Brandley, Elizabeth T.
Baraniuk, James N.
author_facet Holton, Kathleen F.
Kirkland, Anna E.
Baron, Michael
Ramachandra, Shalini S.
Langan, Mackenzie T.
Brandley, Elizabeth T.
Baraniuk, James N.
author_sort Holton, Kathleen F.
collection PubMed
description Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a multisymptom disorder including widespread chronic pain, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems. The objective of this study was to examine the low glutamate diet as a treatment for GWI. Forty veterans with GWI were recruited from across the US. Outcomes included symptom score, myalgic score, tender point count, dolorimetry and the Chalder Fatigue Scale. Subjects were randomized to the low glutamate diet or a wait-listed control group, with symptom score being compared after one month. Subjects then went onto a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover challenge with monosodium glutamate (MSG)/placebo to test for return of symptoms. Symptom score was compared between diet intervention and wait-listed controls with an independent t-test and effect size was calculated with Cohen’s d. Change scores were analyzed with Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests. Crossover challenge results were analyzed with General Linear Models and cluster analysis. The diet intervention group reported significantly less symptoms (p = 0.0009) than wait-listed controls, with a very large effect size, d = 1.16. Significant improvements in average dolorimetry (p = 0.0006), symptom score, tender point number, myalgic score and the Chalder Fatigue Scale (all p < 0.0001) were observed after the 1-month diet. Challenge with MSG/placebo resulted in significant variability in individual response. These results suggest that the low glutamate diet can effectively reduce overall symptoms, pain and fatigue in GWI, but differential results upon challenge suggest that other aspects of the diet, or underlying differences within the population, may be driving these changes. Future research is needed to identify potential nutrient effects, biomarkers, and underlying metabolic differences between responders and non-responders.
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spelling pubmed-75512342020-10-16 The Low Glutamate Diet Effectively Improves Pain and Other Symptoms of Gulf War Illness Holton, Kathleen F. Kirkland, Anna E. Baron, Michael Ramachandra, Shalini S. Langan, Mackenzie T. Brandley, Elizabeth T. Baraniuk, James N. Nutrients Article Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a multisymptom disorder including widespread chronic pain, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems. The objective of this study was to examine the low glutamate diet as a treatment for GWI. Forty veterans with GWI were recruited from across the US. Outcomes included symptom score, myalgic score, tender point count, dolorimetry and the Chalder Fatigue Scale. Subjects were randomized to the low glutamate diet or a wait-listed control group, with symptom score being compared after one month. Subjects then went onto a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover challenge with monosodium glutamate (MSG)/placebo to test for return of symptoms. Symptom score was compared between diet intervention and wait-listed controls with an independent t-test and effect size was calculated with Cohen’s d. Change scores were analyzed with Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests. Crossover challenge results were analyzed with General Linear Models and cluster analysis. The diet intervention group reported significantly less symptoms (p = 0.0009) than wait-listed controls, with a very large effect size, d = 1.16. Significant improvements in average dolorimetry (p = 0.0006), symptom score, tender point number, myalgic score and the Chalder Fatigue Scale (all p < 0.0001) were observed after the 1-month diet. Challenge with MSG/placebo resulted in significant variability in individual response. These results suggest that the low glutamate diet can effectively reduce overall symptoms, pain and fatigue in GWI, but differential results upon challenge suggest that other aspects of the diet, or underlying differences within the population, may be driving these changes. Future research is needed to identify potential nutrient effects, biomarkers, and underlying metabolic differences between responders and non-responders. MDPI 2020-08-26 /pmc/articles/PMC7551234/ /pubmed/32859032 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12092593 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Holton, Kathleen F.
Kirkland, Anna E.
Baron, Michael
Ramachandra, Shalini S.
Langan, Mackenzie T.
Brandley, Elizabeth T.
Baraniuk, James N.
The Low Glutamate Diet Effectively Improves Pain and Other Symptoms of Gulf War Illness
title The Low Glutamate Diet Effectively Improves Pain and Other Symptoms of Gulf War Illness
title_full The Low Glutamate Diet Effectively Improves Pain and Other Symptoms of Gulf War Illness
title_fullStr The Low Glutamate Diet Effectively Improves Pain and Other Symptoms of Gulf War Illness
title_full_unstemmed The Low Glutamate Diet Effectively Improves Pain and Other Symptoms of Gulf War Illness
title_short The Low Glutamate Diet Effectively Improves Pain and Other Symptoms of Gulf War Illness
title_sort low glutamate diet effectively improves pain and other symptoms of gulf war illness
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7551234/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32859032
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12092593
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