2009 December | Shine on Scotland

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Scotland must fortify school milk!

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | Tags: 10 Downing Street, bbc news, bupa, bupa health care, cancer, cancer prevention, Clyde 1, Daily Record, Deputy First Minister, drumchapel, edingburgh, first minister, fortified milk, glasgow, health news, JK Rowling, kirsten mclaughlin, Michelle Mone, MS, MS Society Scotland, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, news, nhs scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, Oliver Gillie, petitions committee, press release, prime minister, Ryan McLaughlin, school milk, scotland, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland, sky news, uk government, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign, vitamins
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When 14 year old Ryan Mclaughlin started his Shine on Scotland campaign he had set a goal to get vitamin D into our school milk, a simple idea to protect every child in scotland from Multiple Sclerosis, but he quickly became aware that far more diseases would benefit from vitamin D supplementation not just MS.

Now the countries largest private health care provider BUPA agree’s and says we should all be taking between 1,500 to 2,000 IUs per day to beat cancer. This is 5 times the current UK RDA and exactly what Ryan has campaigned tirelessly for almost 9 months.

Dr Virginia Warren, assistant medical director for Bupa, commented: “There has been a lot of research over the last few years about the health benefits of taking a vitamin D supplement. Based on this evidence, we would recommend taking between 37.5 and 50 micrograms of vitamin D on a daily basis to help reduce your risk of certain cancers. Spending time outside in summer will also increase your vitamin D levels, but is a risk for skin cancer.

“Ensuring you get enough vitamin D is a simple and effective way to reduce your risk of developing certain cancers. Alongside this, it’s important to ensure you eat a healthy balanced diet, exercise regularly, only drink in moderation and do not smoke.

It was again reinforced today when the Israeli Health Ministry announced that all 3% milk is to be fortified with vitamin D in the next 3 months and Ryan McLaughlin wants the Scottish Government to look to follow suit.

Last week on a STV news interview with Ryan McLaughlin in realtion to his win for vitamin d campaign he said ‘that fortification of school milk was still at the top of his priorities’ as he still thinks its the best way to protect future generations of Scots from many diseases not just MS, this announcement by the Israeli Government only goes to further back his case and show that it can be done on a national basis and with the worst health record in western world and the highest rates of MS in the world – Scotland must take the lead.

Dr Sareeram Ramagopalan of Oxford University and Ryan’ family all gave evidence at the Scottish Parliaments petitions committee back in June and told the committee that Israel was looking at fortification of both Milk and flour and we heard that France was also looking at it, now its been confirmed in Israel we need to really start considering moving towards fortification of the school milk program now in scotland.

There are many problems associated with just offering supplementation, simply try getting a child to take a supplement every day for their young life seems doomed for failure, Ryan says he has forgotten a few times to take his and he is running the vitamin D camapign !

How many adults get a course of antibiotics which state finish the course and don’t. Ryan say’s ‘I am sure almost every adult can say that take them till they feel better and the rest is left in a medical cabinet’.

Furthermore do we really want kids popping tablets everyday ?

Can we ask our teachers to dish out supplements he doesnt think so!

We would need to ask the questions from the Education Dept, teachers and of course get the teachers unions to agree to it, teachers have a big work load already, Ryan points out that many parents will be able to relate to the following point ! How many times as a parent have you been called home and had to take a day off work when a paracetamol would sorted a sore head or a slightly high temperature and the child could have stayed in school getting educated – It would all take too long, too many problems to overcome.

We could spend millions of pounds trying to educate parents and expectant mothers to take vitamin D supplements everyday, but I believe we should lead from the front from the start , we owe it to the kids and we must protect each and every child in Scotland.

If parents don’t want it for their kids – let them simply opt out !

Ryan believes we need to think much much bigger! He think we should educate parents to the idea of the benefits of vitamin D everyday and proposing putting vitamin D into the school milk program so kids get it every day, start debating it with the public and informing parents immediately !

Vitamin D boosts your immune system to help fights off cold and bugs and it would improve the school attendence records on wasted days of school due to simple sniffles, as well as save parents the loss of earnings by taking time off work with sick kids that could be in school learning.

Add his very valid points to the figures compiled for national supplementation of vitamin D in Scotland in relation to just MS alone and you have very good case – Scientists believe it could prevent 2000 cases over 10 years in Scotland alone and could save the UK economy some £4.5 billion surely children’s health must be the priority and a penny onto the cost of a pint of milk is well justified and we should start talking to the dairies immediately !

Vitamin D can reduce number of falls and fractures in elderly

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | Tags: Campaign, Deputy First Minister, Holyrood, MS Society Scotland, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, Nicola Sturgeon, Oliver Gillie, petitions committee, Ryan McLaughlin, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland, The Times Online, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign, vitamins
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Story by Melanie Reid

Elderly people who take a daily dose of vitamin D can boost their muscle strength and reduce the risk of falls by 19 per cent, according to a new study.

Researchers also found that a supplement of between 700 to 1,000 international units (IUs) a day can cut the risk of hip fracture by 18 per cent and other fractures by 20 per cent.

The study, by the Centre on Aging and Mobility at the University of Zurich and published in the British Medical Journal, comes as Bupa, the private health care provider, recommended for the first time that people should take a vitamin D supplement to reduce the risk of several cancers.

The benefits, which occur as a result of the vitamin’s positive effects on muscles, were significant within two to five months of starting supplementation and extended beyond 12 months of treatment.

Researchers said that one in three people aged over 65 fall each year. “Vitamin D has direct effects on muscle strength modulated by specific vitamin D receptors present in human muscle tissue,” the study said.

“In several trials of older individuals at risk for vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D supplementation improved strength, function and balance in a dose-related pattern. Most importantly, these benefits translated into a reduction in falls. An important risk factor for falls is muscle weakness, which is a prominent feature of the clinical syndrome of vitamin D deficiency and could plausibly mediate fracture risk through increasing susceptibility to falls.”

The Times, which has highlighted the links between high levels of vitamin D deficiency in Scotland and poor health — due to low levels of sunshine — has collated other new research which points to the vitamin’s positive role with regard to falls and fractures.

A five-month trial at the Institute for Aging Research in Boston, the United States, found that nursing home residents who took at least 800 IUs of vitamin D a day were 72 per cent less likely to fall than those taking a placebo.

The researchers concluded that adequate supplementation could reduce the number of falls experienced by this high-risk group.

Other research in Boston found that elderly patients with hip fractures who were given 2,000 IUs of vitamin D experienced 60 per cent fewer complications and 90 per cent fewer infections than hip fracture patients who received a placebo in a double blind randomised trial. They were also 40 per cent less likely to be readmitted to hospital, according to research by Beth Dawson-Hughes of Tufts University, Boston.

Although the amount of vitamin D that needs to be taken to be effective remains a matter of debate, Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, director of the centre in Zurich, suggested that the best results were found in people who took between 1,800 and 4,000 IUs a day.

In its newly issued advice, Bupa recommended taking 1,500 to 2,000 IUs per day.

The research was published as the Scottish government responds to evidence surrounding vitamin D deficiency. NHS Health Scotland has announced that there is “an urgent need” to provide information to all health professionals who work with pregnant women and young children about current guidance on vitamin D supplementation.

The study results are also a victory for Ryan McLaughlin, 14, from Glasgow, whose mother suffers from multiple sclerosis. Ryan, who started the campaign “Sunshine on Scotland”, has petitioned the Scottish Parliament over the need to raise awareness of the dangers of vitamin D deficiency.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6969046.ece

Israel – All 3% milk to be fortified with Vitamin D

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | Tags: canada, Daily Record, Deputy First Minister, fortified milk, Israel, jerusalem, JK Rowling, MS, MS Society Scotland, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, Nicola Sturgeon, Oliver Gillie, Ryan McLaughlin, school milk fortification, school milk programme, scotland, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland, The Times Online, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign
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New Health Ministry nutrition dept. head Dr. Ziva Stahl.

Photo: Judy Siegel-itzkovich

In a few months, dairies will be required to fortify 3%-fat Milk and vitamin D - which has been scientifically proven to reduce the risk of a wide variety of diseases from osteoporosis to ovarian cancer and dementia – at no extra cost to the consumer, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The Health Ministry has finally taken action through an official standard formilk that will insert the vital but very cheap vitamin into bags, cartons and glass bottles of 3% milk, which is the most widely consumed. At present, only 1% fat milk has to be fortified withvitamin D.

Milk has been fortified for decades in the US and many other countries.

The dairy companies have long opposed forced fortification of 3% milkbecause they market “specialty” milks with vitamin D plus calcium – for which they can charge more, since these products are not subject to government price controls.

Forcing them to add the vitamin while charging the same price will cause them to lose income.

However, Health Ministry Nutrition Department head Dr. Ziva Stahl said that forcing dairy companies to fortify all their products – including soft white cheeses and yogurts – with the vitamin is quite a way off, as this will require a different standard.

The companies oppose adding vitamin D to cheeses and yogurts even more than to ordinary milk because it would require some complicated technological changes that will add to their costs, said Stahl, who is a clinical dietitian.

Doctors and other experts have long thought that Israelis, living in a country that is sunny almost all year, would have no shortage of vitamin D, as the sun’s ultraviolet rays induce cells in the skin to produce it.

But recent screening of blood by Maccabi Health Services has found this to be mostly untrue. The vast majority of blood tested for medical reasons was screened by the health fund for a few weeks and found to be deficient in vitamin D.

Nowadays Israelis are more likely to keep out of the sun and use sunscreen to reduce the risk of skin cancer; moreover, the observant of all religions dress modestly the year, while children tend to stay indoors in front of their computer or TV screens rather than play outside, thus reducing their exposure to sunlight.

The health funds do not check blood for vitamin D unless doctors specifically request it.

Stahl said the ministry, which recommends that all women of childbearing age take folic acid pills to minimize the risk of having infants with neural-tube disorders, is also considering the possibility of adding folic acid to all flour used in Israel.

Story by the Jerusalem post

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1261364529466&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

You’re 10 times more likely to get MS in Rhyl than you are in Rio !

Monday, December 21st, 2009 | Tags: child of the year award, cymru, Deputy First Minister, JK Rowling, kirsten mclaughlin, MS, ms awareness, MS Society Scotland, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, new born, pregnant mothers, Ryan McLaughlin, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign, wales, welsh assembly
Posted in Uncategorized

A CHARITY has called on the Welsh Assembly Government to fund a campaign about vitamin D deficiency and multiple sclerosis.

The MS Society Cymru is calling for ministers to follow Scotland’s lead and raise awareness about the links between the two.

Such a campaign would encourage pregnant women and children under four to take a regular vitamin D supplement.

Scientists recently discovered that MS could be prevented through daily vitamin D supplements.

There is a clear link between vitamin D – known as the sunshine vitamin – and a gene that increases the risk of MS, raising the possibility that the debilitating auto-immune condition could be eradicated.

The prevalence of MS is far higher in typically wet and cold countries such as Wales, where 110 people in every 100,000 are living with the condition.

In a country with lots of sunshine – such as Brazil – only 18 people in every 100,000 have MS.

The NHS in Scotland said it would raise awareness about the links between vitamin D deficiency and MS this month, after being spurred into acting by Glasgow teenager Ryan McLaughlin.

Ryan’s mother, Kirsten, has had MS for three years, and Ryan, 14, has shown some symptoms of the disease but the family only discovered the link earlier this year after a family holiday.

The teenager said: “I was shocked there had not been publicity around this before. We wanted there to be more awareness of the link and more research into how much of a problem it is in Scotland.

“These actions will make a big difference – it will go a long way to giving children some protection against the disease and give parents proper advice.”

Joseph Carter, spokesperson for MS Society Cymru, said: “We are delighted by this announcement by the Scottish Government and are now calling on the Welsh Assembly Government to do the same.

“You are 10 times more likely to develop MS in Rhyl than you are Rio de Janeiro, and new research suggests this is due to vitamin D deficiency.”

Vitamin D, obtained from foods and through the action of sunlight on skin, is essential for maintaining healthy bones.

It is unclear exactly what causes MS but it has become increasingly evident that environmental and genetic factors play a role.

Previous research has shown that populations from Northern Europe have an increased MS risk if they live in areas receiving less sunshine.

This supports a direct link between deficiency in vitamin D, which is produced in the body through the action of sunlight, and increased risk of developing the condition.

Researchers at the University of Oxford and the University of British Columbia this year discovered a direct relationship between the genetic variant DRB1*1501, which is associated with MS, and vitamin D.

Dr Julian Knight, a co-author of the research, said: “In people with the DRB1 variant associated with MS, it seems that vitamin D may play a critical role.

“If too little of the vitamin is available, the gene may not function properly.”

And the study’s lead author Dr Sreeram Ramagopalan said: “Our study implies that taking vitamin D supplements during pregnancy and the early years may reduce the risk of a child developing MS in later life.”

A spokeswoman for the Welsh Assembly Government said: “We are working closely with the MS Society to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis.

“Earlier this year, we produced a leaflet, Multiple Sclerosis – living with a long term condition. This includes information on the condition, its symptoms and the people affected.”