Swank diet


Swank diet

A diet for multiple sclerosis developed in the 1940s by an American neurologist, Roy L Swank. The Swank diet eliminates saturated fats in meats and baked products, lard, butter, palm oil, coconuts, coconut oil, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, and chocolate; caffeinated beverages, olives, avocados, and sugar are limited.
Accroding to Swank’s data, patients with multiple sclerosis who followed his diet for 20 or more years had fewer exacerbations of disease, fewer deaths and less disability; their cholesterol fell by an average of 150 mg/dl, and thus had a lower risk of coronary artery disease. Swank’s data was published in Lancet in 1990, and a later followup of the original patients found no further deterioration of disease; however, the greater medical community questions Swank’s results given that his study was not double-blinded.