PaleoDiet Home Page → MS & Diet Page →

Swank Diet Information basket of apples Swank Book

Due the the amount of interest I [Wendy] have received regarding The Swank Diet, I decided to start this page.

THE BASICS

This is a simple outline of the diet presented in Dr. Swank's book. If you are interested in following the diet, I would recommend that you purchase "The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book". I enjoy the book because it not only covers the diet, but contains a very good introduction explaining Multiple Sclerosis and it's symptoms.

The Swank Diet is basically a low fat diet supplemented with fish oil (which contains Omega 3). The following changes are made in your diet.

  1. No red meat for the first year. This includes dark meat of chicken and turkey.
  2. After the first year, 3 ounces of red meat is allowed once a week. Red meat is discouraged except for special occasions.
  3. Dairy products containing one percent butterfat or more are excluded. (Exceptions are listed in the book.)
  4. All processed foods containing saturated fat are eliminated.
  5. Saturated fat intake is not to exceed 15 grams per day.
  6. Unsaturated fat intake (oils) should be kept between 20 and 50 grams per day.
  7. One teaspoon or 4 capsules of nonconcentrated cod-liver oil and one multiple vitamin/mineral supplement is recommended.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Swank's study reported a dramatic difference between people who followed his diet, and those of his patients reporting they didn't follow it. Over 34 years, 150+ patients with MS, those minimally disabled to start who followed the diet died at the rate of 5%; that's a lower death rate than those without MS of comparable age.

Those patients not following his diet had a death rate of 85% over the same period. Now it's true that the study was not a random, controlled double blind study. The patients who were younger may have followed the diet more often. Older patients might have not followed it as often, skewing the stats.

BOOK INFORMATION

MS Diet Book The name of the book is "The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book" by Roy Laver Swank, MD, PhD and Barbara Brewer Dugan. The book is published by Doubleday. You can order the book through Amazon.com.