A simple natural cure may exist for a condition that quietly affects as many as 30 million Americans, a doctor claims.
As the name suggests, restless leg syndrome causes painful, throbbing, pulling, itching, creeping, or crawling sensations in the legs that can cause sleepless nights.
It affects up to 10 percent of American adults and one in 20 children, usually when they are inactive, such as at bedtime — but only a fraction of people see a doctor about the problem and even fewer receive an official diagnosis.
Treatment options range from benzodiazepines, commonly used to treat anxiety, to opioids and medications that mimic the effects of dopamine or increase its concentration in the brain.
But now doctors point to a promising natural remedy: cutting back on sugar.
Graphic courtesy of the Center for Vascular Medicine. It shows the different sensations a person with RLS experiences when he or she tries to fall asleep
Saying no to sweet treats is hard, and even harder is avoiding the laundry list of other sugar-packed foods, from bread to condiments. Sugar is a staple of the American diet.
But there is a lot of anecdotal evidence pointing the finger at sugary foods for worsening the symptoms of restless legs.
Science has not concluded that eating foods high in sugar is a cause of restless leg syndrome, but some scientists with the condition have gone ahead and removed it from their diet anyway, only to find that their symptoms went away.
The condition is more common in women than men and often manifests in an overwhelming urge to wiggle and kick the legs to relieve the distressing feelings, usually leading to a night of tossing and turning.
Dr. George Lundberg, a self-described “anti-sugar man” who specializes in studying the origins of various diseases, experienced firsthand the effects of dessert right before bed.
A mini ice cream cone for dessert one evening in early November turned into several extra pieces of leftover Halloween candy before going to bed.
“And lo and behold, in the dark of that night, and for a few restless hours, I had bad RLS. Shifting, tossing, turning, compulsively looking for a new sleeping position and then quickly having to move again,” says Dr. Lundberg. said.
He added that he had “repeated leg cramps and that creepy skin feeling” that eventually gave way to sound sleep.
Dr. Lundberg did not repeat his nightly sugar binge in the following weeks, and the symptoms of restless legs did not return.
He added: ‘I am quite convinced by my unintentional challenge and some ‘dechallenges’ that my unusually high sugar intake resulted in RLS. I won’t be re-challenged, although it might be fun to use sucrose and see what happens.’
Science has yet to say for certain that RLS is caused by a diet high in sugar, but it has been shown that symptoms decrease when people eat less of it.
Last year a Dutch doctor wrote about the case of a healthy 60 year old man with RLS. He had normal blood sugar and iron levels, was not a smoker or drinker and was not taking any other medications.
However, the man was eating a high-sugar diet and was asked by his doctor to try no added sugar in his diet for a few weeks and then a few normal eating weeks. He was also asked to complete a questionnaire during the cycles of high-sugar eating and the weeks when he ate very little added sugar.
His questionnaire showed an average score for RLS of 26, which is classified as ‘severe’. But when he stuck to a low-sugar diet, his score dropped to six, or “mild” RLS.
The doctor who treated the man said: ‘Following a low-sugar diet requires discipline, but if it significantly reduces or completely eliminates the symptoms of RLS, it is preferable and can be used on a trial basis before prescribing medications.’
Doctors have tried to treat RLS with a wide range of medications, including benzodiazepines, opioids, medications that stimulate receptors that regulate the body’s involuntary functions such as heart rate, and medications that mimic the effects of dopamine or its concentration in the brain to increase. .
Dr. Lundberg said, “Yes, you read that right; RLS is treated with a wide variety of different medications, which is usually a sign that nothing is working properly. Some agents work for a while, but none seem to be the final solution.
“How many millions of dollars would Big Pharma lose if patients with RLS just said no to sugar and it worked?”
A diet high in refined added sugars, including sucrose, dextrose, table sugar, syrups, honey and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices, is known to drastically increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as obesity and heart disease.
Yet Americans can’t get enough of it. We eat an average of 17 teaspoons of added sugar every day, more than double or triple the recommended amount for men and women respectively. That amounts to about 60 pounds of added sugar consumed each year.