Hypermetabolism in multiple sclerosis patients

Hypermetabolism, which can lead to wasting syndrome, is well recognized in diseases such as AIDS, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, sepsis and burns. In these conditions proinflammatory cytokines are thought to be essentially involved. In experimental allergic encephalitis (EAE), which is regarded as an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), wasting syndrome and elevated levels of cytokines have also been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate whether hypermetabolism does occur in MS patients. After a 3‐day standard diet the basal metabolic rate (BMR) was measured by indirect calorimetry in 20 MS patients and 10 healthy controls. Body composition was assessed using an impedance analyser and lean body mass (LBM) was calculated. Other metabolic disturbances and infectious disease were ruled out by clinical examination and various laboratory tests. Tested by analysis of variance (ANOVA), the BMR corrected for LBM was increased by an average of 6% in the patients group (p < 0.05) as compared to the controls. As far as we know this is the first study demonstrating the presence of hypermetabolism in MS.