More on "neuroprotection" and the gut from new research published in Nature Medicine.
"For the first time, we've been able to identify that food has some sort of remote control over central nervous system inflammation," said corresponding author Francisco Quintana, PhD, an investigator in the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at BWH. "What we eat influences the ability of bacteria in our gut to produce small molecules, some of which are capable of traveling all the way to the brain. This opens up an area that's largely been unknown until now: how the gut controls brain inflammation."
(have to say, this area hasn't been "largely unknown" by researchers. The gut-brain connection has had published research for decades. About time MS specialists got onboard Joan)

Bacteria living in the gut may remotely influence the activity of cells in the brain that are involved in controlling inflammation and neurodegeneration, new research suggests. Using pre-clinical models for multiple sclerosis (MS) and samples from MS patients, the team found evidence that changes in...