A new study has found that exercise is good for the brains of patients with multiple sclerosis.

Highly fit multiple sclerosis patients performed significantly better on tests of cognitive function than similar less-fit patients, researchers found in the new study.

In addition, MRI scans of the patients showed that the fitter MS patients showed less damage in parts of the brain that show deterioration as a result of MS, as well as a greater volume of vital gray matter.

Ruchika Shaurya Prakash, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University said," We found that aerobic fitness has a protective effect on parts of the brain that are most affected by multiple sclerosis. As a result, these fitter patients actually show better performance on tasks that measure processing speed."

The study, which appears online in the journal Brain Research and will be published in a future print edition, was done by Prakash with colleagues Robert Motl and Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois and Erin Snook of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

21 women diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS in the study. They were compared with 15 age- and education-matched healthy female controls. The study assessed fitness, cognitive function, and structural changes in all participants. (With Input from Agencies)