Hi Meg and all:
My son has scoliosis. We have found that diet is critical in resolving the issue. It appears my son can't handle most sugars, which appear to be the major cause of the muscle stiffness. Since cutting out particular sugars from his diet he has no more stiffness, no more pain and has seen a 5-10 degree improvement in his curve (accuracy of the cobb angle measurement is +- 5 percent):
Absolutely avoid these:
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fructose (no fruits, corn based products)
sucrose (sucrose breaks down into fructose and glucose. i.e. most processed foods).
lactose (i.e. dairy) - breaks down into galactose and glucose).
galactose (in lactose free dairy products)
maltose (in some candies)
some sugar alcohols - especially maltitol and sorbitol. (in gum, candy)
For my son, these are fine (cause no stiffness):
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glucose (you can buy powdered glucose at bulk barn or bulk foods places, called "dextrose" - works great for baking).
xylitol seems ok so far
what this means for his diet is:
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no fruit, period. (supplement vitamin c, folic acid etc).
no bread or glutens (wheat is high in fructose).
no dairy. (ironically people with scoliosis tend to really go for dairy, believing that the calcium will help them. It may but the lactose / galactose really stiffens my son's back).
no lactose free milk products (contain a lot of galactose).
avoid corn based products, starchy foods generally.
avoid brown rice (contains fructose, but white rice is fine).
what to eat:
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generally try a diabetic diet i.e. lots of green vegetables, lots of meat and nuts.
supplement vitamins for lack of fruits.
substitute unsweetened almond milk for milk
substitute margarine for butter
use powerdered glucose for sugar substitute in baking
use WHITE rice flour and oats for baking (white rice and potatoes appear to be ok for my son, but we focus on white rice mainly because it breaks down into glucose).
I think the sugar issue is a secondary one. I think the real issue is a gut flora one, where whatever bad flora he has causes the bad sugars to break down into something poisonous. I have no proof of this, but I have the same issue - if I eat the bad sugars, my gut kills me, and I get arthritis-like stiffness for days until I stop the intake of the bad sugars. For me glucose is ok too so I do the same diet as my son.
Hope this helps you!!!
