Vegan diet alleviates fibromyalgia symptoms

The effect of a strict, low-salt, uncooked vegan diet rich in lactobacteria on symptoms in 18 fibromyalgia patients during and after a 3-month interve ntion period in an open, non-randomized controlled study was evaluated. As control 15 patients continued their omnivorous diet. The groups did not dif fer significantly from each other in the beginning of the study in any othe r parameters except in pain and urine sodium. The results revealed signific ant improvements in Visual analogue scale of pain (VAS) (p=0.005), joint st iffness (p=0.001), quality of sleep (p=0.0001), Health assessment questionn aire (HAQ) (p=0.031), General health questionnaire (GHQ) (p=0.021), and a r heumatologist's own questionnaire (p=0.038). The majority of patients were overweight to some extent at the beginning of the study and shifting to a v egan food caused a significant reduction in body mass index (BMI) (p=0.0001 ). Total serum cholesterol showed a statistically significant lowering (p=0 .003). Urine sodium dropped to 1/3 of the beginning values (p=0.0001) indic ating good diet compliance. It can be concluded that vegan diet had benefic ial effects on fibromyalgia symptoms at least in the short run.