Background/aims: The prevalence of overweight/obesity is a major problem in the world, and the number of MS cases is increasing. This literature study examines the relationship between overweight/obesity in children and adolescents and later occurrence of MS.
Method: This is a complete literature survey. The search database is primarily Pubmed using MeSH terms "multiple sclerosis", "obesity", and "overweight", and text words not to restrict searches.
Results: All included studies show a link between being overweight/obese and the presence of MS among people below 20 years of age. The relation is especially true for young girls. The same relation in boys is not significant.
Conclusion: The literature survey convincingly revealed a link between young overweight/obese and occurrence of MS, in particular for girls. There is a need for more and larger studies to investigate the molecular mechanisms that link obesity and MS.
Keywords: Multiple sclerosis; Obesity; Overweight.