Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and vegan diet

Question
QUESTION: Hi Tanya,

I was wondering whether there are any studies that show a link between diet and CRPS. In particular, could a switch to being vegan cause an imbalance of any kind that could contribute to the onset of CRPS? Not immediately, of course, but over a period of many months.

I looked up how neurons & nerves work (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron) and saw that its basically an electrical system activated by calcium, sodium, chloride, etc. This made me wonder if imbalances in those elements could upset the nervous system but I don't know enough about how it all works to tell.

In the case of a vegan I'm thinking the imbalance could be a deficiency in calcium. Another factor (not necessarily vegan) could be an excess of salt in the diet causing an imbalance of sodium and chlorides.

ANSWER: Hi Simon,

As far as I'm concerned, the short answer to your main question is negative. What's more, many people suffering from CRPS claim improvement in their condition after they switch to the vegan diet.

As to the Na, Ca, Cl, etc. imbalances you are asking about, they keep being balanced back to possible normal condition due to the intricate work of multilevel homeostasis long after the CRPS symptoms are developed so CRPS is considered a localaixed rather than systemic condition - this is why it's called "regional".

MDs are not sure what causes CRPS but think that they are either mechanical (trauma, spasms, bone deformation, etc.) or autoimmune, or are due to the sympathetic nervous system disfunction. As you can see, nutritional deficiencies are not among recognized causes.

On the other hand, you might want to know health consequences of long-term vegan way of eating. Vegans consume less saturated fat and cholesterol and more dietary fiber so they usually have lower cholesterol, and lower blood pressure, and risk of heart disease. However, they have an increased increases risk of  vitamins B-12 and D, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, iron and zinc.

Tanya Zilberter



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Tanya,

Thanks for the prompt response!

So I get the point that my question simplifies a complex process and that body does some self-correcting to ensure that things are all OK. However, if existing sufferers notice an improvement when they change their diet, it still seems like diet could contribute to the onset of the condition. Is it possible that (whether or not its about being vegan) being more attentive to their diet changed the quality/balance of what they ate, causing the improvement?

Answer
Most certainly. However, it's not clear how this particular diet works to influence your condition. In other cases, for example, of the ketogenic diet, there is the growing body of evidence that it has neuroprotective effects (in conditions such as epilepsy, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and many others) because:

1. It supplies the nervous system with an energy substrate that is different from glucose and in most of the neurodegenerative diseases, on of the major metabolic problem is insulin insensitivity and/or other causes of inability to metabolize glucose, thus metabolic crisis.

2. In many cases of inflammation,  excessive glucose processing, glycolysis, contributes to the process via generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Also, during non-stop glycolysis, the process of glycation takes place making two of intermediaries of glycolysis  became toxins, while when glycolysis goes on in a moderate pace, they can be even neuroprotective.

However, as you are a vegan,it's all not your case. I suspect that the vegan diet finally does a very similar thing, but due to the inevitable calorie restriction, which can most probably be due to very low energy density of your daily meals -- and calorie restriction is strongly neuroprotective.

You might want to read more about it at:
http://agelessbrain.com/category/brain-metabolism/brain-nutrition/calorie-restri
http://brainfuels.com/2010/08/the-seven-effects-of-ketone-bodies-making-them-pow
http://brainfuels.com/2010/03/toxic-glycolysis-and-brain-aging/

TZ  

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