Risk of Multiple Sclerosis in Relation to Industrial Activities: An Ecological Study in Four European Countries

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In order to generate additional hypotheses on a possible role of dietary factors in the etiology of multiple sclerosis, the ethnographic literature and other relevant sources from the Faroe Islands were reviewed. A transitory occurrence in the first half of the 20th century was evident for the extended consumption of oat products, of fulmars possibly infected with ornithosis virus, and of foodstuffs treated with wood smoke or smoke condensates. The hypothetical basis of these considerations must be emphasized.

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 82%

Dietary Changes in Temporal Relation to Multiple Sclerosis in the Faroe Islands: An Evaluation of Literary Sources

Lauer¹

1989

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“…A bias due to differences in medical facilities has been ruled out previously [39]. The find ing does not indicate a higher risk in indus trial workers, since individual exposure was not investigated in the present study and oth ers had described a higher risk in socially advanced strata [40][41][42], As shown in a sub sequent paper [43], the association with over all industrial activity cannot be attributed to a certain branch of industry, so that the sig nificance of this correlation remains obscure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Sociogeographic Factors and Multiple Sclerosis – An Ecological Study in 6 European Countries

Lauer¹

1988

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The pattern of the multiple sclerosis (MS) risk in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland and Holland, as reported in previous studies, was compared with the distribution of several sociogeographic factors. For none of the variables tested did an association with MS exist in all of these countries. A correlation in more than one country was found for the proportion of industrial workers in the total population and for the extent of oat cultivation. Arguments against a causal role of these factors as such exist, however, and are discussed. For a number of other variables that might be implicated in the context of prior findings or suggestions either no or only an inconsistent association with MS was found.

“…nitroguaiacol and its deriva tives) and their conjugation with food pro teins in this type of food [4,10], Further epi demiological arguments for this view are the association of MS with the felling and pro cessing of conifers in Norway [11], the corre lation between MS and the paper industry (which predominantly uses coniferous wood) in several countries [12,13], a significant correlation between MS mortality and the proportion of certain conifers in regional forests in one state [14], and a similar trend in a small rural area in central West Ger many [13], Furthermore, an association of MS with the density of meat markets was found in the German state of Hesse [14], and in the US (unpublished data). The clustering of MS in areas with a prominent lumber industry [15] and an overrepresentation of woodworkers among MS patients in some studies [16,17] are also in agreement with this hypothesis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple Sclerosis in Relation to Meat Preservation in France and Switzerland

Lauer

1989

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In order to test a recent hypothesis on the possible role of defined agents from wood smoke in the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS), the practices of meat preservation, as reported in ethnographic bibliography, were analyzed in relation to the MS distribution in France and Switzerland. In both countries, but more so in Switzerland, a significant association between both features could be demonstrated.