A new clinical trial found that people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) reported less fatigue while following a low-fat diet.

The study was published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal, November 2023 (volume 29, issue 13).

Thirty-nine people living with MS participated in the 16-week randomized controlled trial: 20 in the active group and 19 in the control group. For 12 weeks, the active group adhered to a low-fat diet with total fat calories not exceeding 20 percent. The active group also received two weeks of nutrition counseling and decreased their caloric consumption by 11 percent during the study, researchers said.

Researchers administered a food frequency questionnaire and a Modified Fatigue Impact Scale every four weeks during the study.

“We demonstrated a significant reduction in fatigue with a low-fat dietary intervention in people with MS,” researchers concluded.

Multiple Sclerosis News Today reported that the pilot clinical trial allowed participants to eat lean animal proteins, such as chicken, turkey, lean fish, and egg whites.

MS News Today quoted Vijayshree Yadav, M.D., the study’s senior author, as saying, “A low-fat diet can truly make a difference in a patient’s fatigue level, even without going so far as to make it a vegan diet.” Yadav is a professor of neurology at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine.