My spouse had MS, diagnosed in the early 1980s, and we had multiple experiences with "miracle diet cures"--including one called "The No MS Diet" that turned out to be not only ineffective, but downright dangerous. The purveyor of that particular diet, last I checked, is still out there promoting her "alternative medicine."
Walh's diet does seem to be among the most rational of those I've seen--basically she advocates eating lots of fruits and fresh vegetables and avoiding too much processed foods and sweets--essentially "eating smart"--though some of the foods she wants to restrict--rice, wheat and peppers--don't make much sense to me. I know there's research underway to judge her diet's effectiveness, but I will remain skeptical until there's more data to crunch.
Anecdotes are often misleading, and I can't tell you how many times we were approached by people--sometimes almost total strangers--who shared stories about some relative or friend who tried this or that diet or treatment and had some miraculous recovery. Generally speaking these turned out to be illusory, and as I say some were even dangerous.
That's setting aside the obvious frauds and grifters--the religious cranks who promised a cure through prayer and a sizable contribution, the promoters of magnetic bracelets and magical holograms, etc. The sad thing is that there are always people willing to take advantage of someone else's distress, and some so desperate they'll go against their better judgment in exchange for any ray of hope.
My advice would be to always do the research, and not to stop at the first five or eight pages that come up on Google. Years back we were offered an herb, supposed to be consumed in tea, that was another "alternative" treatment for autoimmune and neurological issues. The first pages I churned up were all testimonials--on pages selling the product. It wasn't until I scrolled through the first thirty or so hits that I came upon the Mayo Clinic warning that the tea contained a chemical that could led to swelling of the brain, seizures, and possible death.
Sorry for the over long post, but it was something I felt I needed to say.
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