Meat-eaters may be at higher risk of developing multiple sclerosis than vegetarians, a small study suggests.
Researchers have linked bacterial changes in the gut — closely tied to the immune system — to the autoimmune disease.
They speculated these changes, linked to eating meat, may set off a chain reaction that could contribute to or worsen the condition.
MS is an incurable condition where the immune system mistakenly causes nerve damage to the brain and spinal cord.
This damage causes the nerves to misfire and malfunction, like a damaged electrical system, leaving suffers struggling to walk and see properly.
The exact trigger which prompts the immune system to attack is still unknown but the new research on gut bacteria offers a new area to investigate.
The gut microbiome, a name for the vast collection of microorganisms in the digestive system, has been linked to variety of conditions in recent years.
They are thought to play a role in everything from helping digest food and preventing infection, to training the immune system.
Scientists say they have discovered a possible link between eating meat and and multiple sclerosis with a carnivores heavy diet influencing which species of gut bacteria thrive
In what they said was the first study of its kind, scientists from the University of Connecticut and Washington University analysed the gut microbiome, immune systems, diet, and blood of 25 MS patients.
They then compared this with data from 24 healthy people as a control group.
Author of the study, Dr Yanjiao Zhou, said they found levels of types of gut bacteria to be associated with both MS, and the severity of people's condition.
'But what is really interesting is how these systems connect with each other, and how diet is involved in these connections,' she said.
The analysis found people who ate meat had lower levels of bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, a species of gut bacteria associated with digesting vegetables.
They also found that people with MS had a higher meat consumption, which led the team to theorise there was a connection.
Furthermore, blood samples from MS patients showed higher levels of an immune system cell called T-helper 17, a type T-cell that helps other cells identify targets to attack.
Combining the findings, they suspected that something is going wrong with MS patients' gut bacteria that causes it to disassociate from the immune system, prompting it to
