Ryan McLaughlin loved his walk for vitamin d and his fight for Multiple sclerosis last week, but next week hell fight for Scotland and this time for real,Ryan has been doing taekwondo since he was just 4 years old winning his first gold medal at age 5 in the world championships held in scotland, he has competed around the world winning many silvers and golds for his country over the last 10 years but this time it will be very different.

Ryan has won many medals as a colour belt on both the domestic and international categories and he recently won silver in the Scottish championships in cupar fife last month in a hard fought final against his good friend Allan Cunningham.

this championship is very different he is now a blackbelt and he will be going alone without his family across to the other side of the world but hell be with his team, throughout his life has aspired to be in the Scottish national team and this year he got his chance. despite working on his amazing shine on Scotland campaign tirelessly, help care for his mum, school work he  he has trained with his team mates 5 times a week to get ready for the 7th GTF world championships which will be held in Malaysia starting on the 2nd July.

This will be a very different event for Ryan as usually its a team affair with younger brother Darren and of course his mum Kirsten who is a previous silver world medalist and European gold medalist. ryans mum Kirsten no longer is able to compete as she has multiple sclerosis but she’ll be with him in spirit. Ryan is under no illusion that this competition will be a move up to the highest level against the best of the best in the world and his mum and dad have asked him not to worry about medals but to enjoy this amazing occasion.

Mum,dad and his younger brother Darren would like to wish him all the very best of luck and they have asked that he only represents himself and his country with honor, and they wish him and everyone representing Scotland the very best.

Mum and dad will let everyone know the results when we they get the phone call.

If you want to watch the video footage from Ryan’s meeting with the MSP’s petition commitee, follow the following link.

When it open’s click on the 1st link dated the 16/06/2009.

Here you will see Ryan giving his speech to the Committee considered PE1259 Guidelines on Vitamin D supplements. The Committee will take evidence from — Ryan McLaughlin, Alan McLaughlin, David McNiven, Director, MS Society Scotland; and Sreeram Ramagopalan, Oxford University Department of Clinical Neurology.

Link: http://www.holyrood.tv/library.asp?iPid=3&section=43&title=Public+Petitions

The video of ryan is on for 35 min’s, there is other people’s petitions spoke about after Ryan’s.

Ryan McLaughlin and his family took the Shine on Scotland Campaign march to the Scottish Parliament on the 16^th of June to hand over a petition calling for vitamin D supplementation to be provided to children and pregnant women in Scotland.

Over two hundred kids and supporters of the campaign joined the march and were met by many MSP’s outside Parliament. There was extensive media coverage of the event and thus it proved an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of MS in Scotland. Inside the Parliament, Ryan took part in a press conference organised by the Public Petitions Committee and then later in the day appeared before the Committee alongside his Dad, Dr Sreeram Ramagopalan who is a member of Professor Eber’s team of researchers, and the new director of MS Society Scotland Mr.David McNiven.

The MSPs on the Committee were very supportive of the campaign and pledged to take the case for supplementation to the Scottish Government. It is expected that they will be able to report back on progress in the next few months and Ryan will be invited to return to Parliament to hear of what we hope will be positive progress and action.

Huge Vitamin D study planned

Updated: 2009-06-24 18:59:32 

A large, government-sponsored study to determine if vitamin D supplementation can lower a healthy person’s risk of getting cancer, heart disease or having a stroke, will begin enrollment in January.

The study is called the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial, or VITAL, and is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. It will enroll 20,000 people, one quarter of whom will be black. People with dark skin have difficulty making vitamin D from sunlight, and some researchers think that this may explain why they also have higher rates of cancer, stroke and heart disease.

“If something as simple as taking a vitamin D pill could help lower these risks and eliminate these health disparities, that would be extraordinarily exciting,” lead researcher Dr JoAnn Manson of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston told the Associated Press.

The Institute of Medicine recommends 200-600 international units of vitamin D per day. The VITAL study will test the effects of giving people 2,000 international units a day in supplements, substantially more than the 400 international units studied in the Women’s Health Initiative, which found no significant benefits for colorectal cancer.

“We’re hoping to see a result during the trial, that we won’t have to wait five years” to find out if supplements help, Manson said.

Vitamin D is good target for intervention, say researchers, because the blood tests to detect it are fairly simple and dietary supplements are easy to take. Sunlight is also a simple way to produce more.

The exact link between vitamin D and disease is unclear and has not yet been put to a rigorous test, but evidence of many health effects has been building for years. Low levels are linked to ill health effects, and higher levels are often associated with better outcomes.

Cancer rates are higher in many northern regions where sunlight is weaker in the winter. Some studies have found that people with lower blood levels of vitamin D are more likely to develop cancer. Others link its anti-inflammatory effects with protection against heart disease.

Studies have shown that three-quarters of U.S. teens and adults are deficient in vitamin D, which is a dramatic increase from just 10 years ago. Some studies show up to 97 percent of blacks in the country are deficient.

Researchers also plan to study whether these nutrients help prevent memory loss, depression, diabetes, osteoporosis and other problems. Researchers in Australia have also found evidence of a genetic link between the inability to metabolize the vitamin and multiple sclerosis.

There have been numerous links between vitamin D levels and cardiovascular disease, although the mechanism isn’t certain since it seem to affect almost all aspects of cardiovascular health.

A study published in 2008, published in the Annals for Internal Medicine by the Harvard School of Public Health, evaluated more than 18,000 men and found that men with vitamin D deficiency are twice as likely to suffer a heart attack as males with normal amounts of the vitamin.

A study presented at the National Lipid Association Annual Scientific Session earlier this year found that every 10 ng/dL increase of vitamin D in the blood was associated with a rise in blood levels of HDL, the good cholesterol, and a decrease in the occurrence of the metabolic syndrome, which has been linked to heart disease and stroke.

The link between vitamin D and cancer has been theorized to be due to antioxidant protection, but another theory states that low blood levels of vitamin D interfere in the communication between cells which keeps them in sync with each other and the body.

Ryan proudly walked with his family and around 350 braveheart kids on Tuesday to try and prevent future Scots from getting MS  by trying to persuade the Scottish government to provide vitamin D, but heroes from all over Scotland were there. He says as the face of the campaign, I was praised by the media as a hero,  but it was a group effort that the media played a major part in.

While I sat in the parliament getting praise there was real heroes outside the very walls who came from all over Scotland because they truly cared, they deserve more praise as they did it because they understood my pain and the real effects of multiple sclerosis and others drew strength from their own experiences of the diseases that take those we love.

I used my painful story to talk to kids about the disease that could effect them in years to come. It took some effort but it did connect with my friends who gave me their show of strength by doing the walk, it showed the Scottish government that Scots kids are not what the public perceive them to be – hooligans !

Kid’s are rarely ever given praise by the media and the general public, usually tagged as hoods and hooligans but  I see it different.  I was really proud, I see the future kids of Scotland willing to stand up for our future, willing to walk a mile to prevent a disease that is now widely thought to be possibly preventable by introducing vitamin D.  There are kids all over the world that are effected by diseases that have now been shown that they could turn there hurt and despair into a positive action and stand up and fight for those they love, my campaign shows that they can be heard.

It was an amazing day and rather unique, who would have though that kids would have campaigned for vitamins and never mind taking the time to protest  to the MSP’s at the Scottish Parliament,  for the right to live without fear of such a disease “I guess the slogan we used for the campaign, One chance to tell the government we have seen MS no thank you, has really hit a cord.”

I hope that it will give courage to more kids that want to try and make a stand for the things they believe in and take it to the Scottish Parliament.  The Scottish Parliament showed me that they where willing to listen to the young people in this country, using my campaign to launch new initiative to listen to children who are the future of Scotland by employing new social media tools like bebo, facebook and blogging to allow them to have their say in the Parliament.

Well,  it was an amazing day that is still sinking in – we are still trying to get to grips with just how successful it was.

Ryan finished school a little early as he had a interview for GMTV, followed quickly by a visit to Clyde 1 Radio station where he was interviewed just before 5pm this evening, just time to make the last few final arrangements and pack the car with kilts, banners, flags and face paint for 500 Braveheart hero’s.
He has done all he can its now time to head for the capital – visit parliament square tonight for a quick reckie then and get a good night sleep , he is  looking forward to meeting the heros and walking to the scottish parliament and make a stand for MS – he hopes loads of people living with MS will be there to make tomorrow a day to be remembered.

see you there everyone !!!!

Ryan and his family made a visit to the MS Life conference in Newcastle on Saturday, it was the first visit to the unique event and gave the family the opportunity to meet Professor George Ebers of Oxford University, although Ryan is using the research conducted by Prof Ebers team and it was the first time they had met in person.

Ryan and his family have not had time to conduct a personal visits to the Oxford university team as the campaign itself had grown so quickly and the worldwide interest has kept the the family so busy.

Professor Ebers later gave a talk on vitamin D and genealogy  at the MS life event and again he gave further evidence to back up  the advice for national vitamin D supplementation in Scotland.

A member of the Oxford team will be be in attendance to be a  witness for Ryan to the public petitions committee

Article by the Copenhagen post online

Milk, bread and other products with ‘extra vitamin D’ could find their on to supermarket shelves in the near future, with a parliamentary majority supporting a proposal to add the nutritional supplement to food and drink products, reports financial daily Børsen.

Should the measure pass it would satisfy many doctors and nutritional experts who have advocated the supplement, claiming that low levels of vitamin D in the blood can lead to various illnesses.

Danes – like many northern Europeans – tend to lack vitamin D, commonly obtained through sunlight. Research has shown that up to 60 percent of people in the Nordic countries do not get enough vitamin D.

Most northern European countries already allow the supplement to be added to food products, with the exception of Denmark and Norway.

The parliamentary parties supporting the proposal – the Liberals, Social Democrats, Conservatives and Social Liberals – have indicated they will pass the bill on the condition that the food fortification is sufficiently backed by experts’ recommendations

New research released by the MS Society has for the first time revealed an accurate estimate of the number of people living with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the UK.
The results show that there is likely to be around 100,000 people with MS in the UK – a 20 per cent increase on previous estimates.

The new study of GP records – funded by the MS Society – was carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and updates previous estimates of 85,000.

The revised figure has major implications for health and social services and the study is a precursor to a pilot MS Register, which will provide much more information on exactly how MS affects individuals.

MS Society Chief Executive, Simon Gillespie, said: “For the first time, we have the right information on the numbers of people with MS. Based on this information, we will seek to work with local health and social services across the UK to improve services for people with MS.

“This is just the beginning. As part of its leadership of a European initiative, the MS Society will now fund a pilot MS Register, which will provide much more information on how MS affects individuals.

“If this pilot proves successful, we hope the governments in all four nations of the UK will support the introduction of a complete register.”

The study was brought about following work carried out by MS Society members in Hampshire, who found that in their local area, the previous estimated prevelance rate was inaccurate.

Knowing how many people have MS is important so that health and social services can provide the right types of care and support.

In many areas of the country people do not currently have access to all the nursing care, drugs and treatment regime that they so desperately need.

http://www.mssociety.org.uk/news_events/news/press_releases/numbers_pwms.html