Multiple sclerosis and infants fed on diets deficient in vitamin A or in selenium and vitamin E.

The characteristic features of multiple sclerosis (MS) include indications that its foundations are laid in early childhood as evidence by instances of the clustering of cases in particular localities by place of birth. Then there is the pattern of distribution in which the prevalence of MS among Caucasians progressively diminishes as the equator is approached, and the familial tendency of the disease to occur in close relatives of those who suffer from it. What is perhaps the most intriguing of all is the prevalence in the Orkney and Shetland Islands which is the highest in the world as far as is known. These and various other features, when considered in connection with the results of the research work which has been carried out on MS and on related subjects, provide reasonable grounds on which to base the hypothesis that the feeding of newborn infants over a period of approximately six months on diets containing insufficient vitamin A or selenium (Se) and to a lesser extent the vitamin E necessary to safeguard vitamin A against peroxidative degradation is a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition for the possible onset of the disease later in life.