Diet trial aims to uncover link between food and chronic pain In 2014, Maria’s life changed overnight. A car accident left her with a fractured arm, severe bruising, and lasting tissue and nerve damage. When the immediate injuries healed, the pain didn’t disappear.
Maria was eventually referred to the Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) Pain Management Research Centre, where she learned strategies to cope. Unfortunately, the agony persisted. “I found it really difficult to manage the pain on a daily basis,” she says. “My life ceased as a mother, wife, grandmother. I was pretty much non-functional in a lot of areas.” After a series of particularly severe episodes – Maria was passing out from the pain – Associate Professor Paul Wrigley, a specialist in pain medicine, suggested she try a particular diet. The improvement was striking. “I’ve got a much better quality of life now,” she says. Maria’s personal experience has helped shape a pilot study at RNSH looking at the relationship between diet and chronic pain. “We’re quite excited about the potential for diet to help a select group of people and potentially influence their daily pain,” Paul says. “Diet profoundly affects us, but in some people, some dietary elements seem to trigger pain or gut disturbances that result in pain.” The idea for the study began when Distinguished Professor Deborah Schofield, an economist at
leading the nutrition component of the study. “Half of the participants will have a delay before starting the diet. The exact diet being tested remains intentionally confidential. If people know what the diet is beforehand, it could influence behaviour and bias the study.” Significantly, the research has been driven by and co-designed with pain sufferers. “We have designed the trial around them and value their input,” says Fiona. “We have a better understanding of what they want and whether they think our trial design is reasonable because it is quite an intensive nutritional intervention and they have to follow the diet for a set period.” The study also includes a genomic component, with scientists analysing potential biological markers that could help develop diagnostic tests in the future. This is another step toward tailoring pain management to the individual. If successful, the pilot will pave the way for a larger study and potentially a new, evidence based tool for people seeking relief from chronic pain. Paul sees it as potential new tool to help people. For Maria and others living with persistent pain, the trial represents hope that dietary changes can be life altering.
Macquarie University, noticed that symptoms from her long-standing dietary condition improved dramatically through dietary changes. Her lived experience eventually gave rise to the idea for the study which she now leads in collaboration with her colleagues at RNSH. “It’s a blinded study design,” says RNSH’s Dr Fiona Simpson, a specialist dietitian and researcher
(l-R) Dr Eindra Aung, patient Maria, Distinguished Professor Deborah Schofield, Dr Fiona Simpson and Associate Professor Paul Wrigley
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