austrailia « Shine on Scotland

Vitamin D – the missing link for multiple sclerosis sufferers

By Hilary Freeman

Sunlight provides Vitamin D – but is weaker in northern countries like Iceland.

Scientists have uncovered increasing evidence of the significance of Vitamin D in the development of multiple sclerosis. Now, Australian researchers have found that Vitamin D may actually reduce its symptoms.

Professor Bruce Taylor, a principal research fellow at the Menzies Institute in Hobart, studied 145 patients in southern Tasmania and tracked their seasonal susceptibility to the disease. He looked at how Vitamin D levels influenced their risk of having an attack of MS.

‘We found that the higher your Vitamin D level, the lower your chance of relapse, and for each ten nanomole [a standard measure of concentration of Vitamin D in the blood] increase in Vitamin D, you can reduce your risk of having an attack of MS by about ten per cent. Doubling your Vitamin D will reduce your risk by up to 50 per cent – a major result.’

Helen Yates, the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre’s chief executive, says: ‘It has long been believed that Vitamin D has a role to play in the risk of developing MS but this new research opens up the strong possibility that this vitamin could impact on relapse rates.’

The MS Society’s research communications officer, Dr Susan Kohlhaas, says: ‘These results are very early-stage and need to be reviewed and validated before we draw any firm conclusions.’

It has been known for many years that the further you live from the Equator, the more likely you are to develop MS. For example, Malaysia has hardly any sufferers but in Scotland and Scandinavia MS is relatively common.

It is believed this is due to a shortage of Vitamin D; countries far from the Equator, such as those in Northern Europe, enjoy less sunshine, the main source of Vitamin D.

Research has shown that babies born in May – who developed in the womb during the Vitamin D-scarce winter months – are the most likely to get MS in later life, while those born in November are at much lower risk.

Another study this year found evidence that Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and infancy could increase a child’s risk of developing MS in later life. The researchers concluded that taking Vitamin D supplements during these times could reduce the risk, although this has yet to be proven.