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Schoolboy’s petition prompts move on MS link to vitamin D

Saturday, February 13th, 2010 | Tags: anniesland, Bill Butler MSP, child of the year award, Deputy First Minister, drumchapel, fortified milk, glasgow, JK Rowling, kirsten mclaughlin, ms society, MS Society Scotland, msp, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, Nicola Sturgeon, oxford university, petitions committee, prof george ebers, Ryan McLaughlin, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland, The Times Online, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign, vitamins
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An international conference is to be held in Scotland to discuss the health effects of vitamin D — thanks to the efforts of a 14-year-old schoolboy.

Ryan McLaughlin, from Glasgow, petitioned the Scottish Parliament questioning possible links between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis after discovering that the disease — from which his mother suffers — could be prevalent in Scotland because of vitamin D deficiency caused by a lack of sunlight.

The petition called on ministers to produce guidelines on vitamin D supplements for children and pregnant women, and launch an awareness campaign. As a result of his efforts, the Scottish government recognised “an urgent need” to provide information to health professionals and mothers, and is to launch a campaign.

Ministers also agreed to host a conference on April 27 to discuss the role of vitamin D. The event, to take place in Glasgow, will be opened by Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary. Leading researchers into links between vitamin D deficiency and multiple sclerosis are expected to attend.

Yesterday, as the Public Petitions Committee agreed to close Ryan’s petition, members congratulated him for his achievement. Bill Butler, Ryan’s local MSP, hailed the schoolboy’s effort, saying that “a very great deal of progress” had been made.

The Glasgow Anniesland representative praised the way “Ryan and the McLaughlin family have persuaded the government; and the government has listened to the very sensible suggestions contained in the petition.

“The government has agreed to a co-ordinated programme of action with NHS Scotland to produce guidance on vitamin D, to educate women on its importance, to consider different messages for different groups of people, and to ensure that health professionals are giving correct and consistent advice to pregnant women and new mothers. Not only should the McLaughlin family be congratulated, but also the government for listening.”

He described that as a significant success. An image of Ryan is now featured on promotional literature for the petitions committee. Speaking about the campaign, Ryan said: “After an amazing year in raising both vitamin D and MS awareness, I now have the commitments that I wanted from the Scottish government.

“I applaud the positive action taken by the Scottish government and the support from Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Shona Robison, Health and Sports Minister.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said: “We’re keen to learn all we can about any possible links between vitamin D and multiple sclerosis and are keeping a very close eye on all the emerging evidence.”

• Breast cancer is diagnosed more often in the spring and autumn, and less often in the summer, leading researchers to suggest that its season-ality may be connected to vitamin D deficiency. Researchers at the University of South Carolina, who examined 2,921,714 breast cancer cases, also found that the seasonality was increasingly prominent the further away from the equator that the women lived. This implies that lack of sunshine, and therefore vitamin D, was a factor.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7021318.ece

Ryan Mclaughlin will take the plunge for Glasgow MS Charity

Monday, February 1st, 2010 | Tags: 14 year old, bighearted scot, bighearted scotland, child of the year award, drumchapel, forth road bridge, fundraising event, glasgow, JK Rowling, kirsten mclaughlin, MS, MS campaign, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, Revive MS Glasgow, Revive MS Support, Ryan McLaughlin, scotland, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland
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14 year old Ryan McLaughlin will do a Zip slide from Forth Road bridge to raise money for Glasgow MS Charity!

Ryan McLaughlin from the Shine on Scotland campaign has offered his support and help to the Glasgow based charity Revive MS Support. Ryan McLaughlin will be taking part in ‘Revive MS support’s ” zip line event and he is gathering people from all over Scotland to help him.

Ryan said – I’ve been working very hard on the campaign for the prevention of MS with vitamin D that I just haven’t had any free time to do anything lately for Revive MS support, but when my mum had a big relapse a couple of weeks ago Revive MS support was right there for us offering support and treatments.

I know its very important that I don’t forget this amazing charity that looks after my mum and i am honored to help, they have been there for our family right from the day she was diagnosed and I can not and will not let them down.

I have asked all the people on my Facebook group to help me and I’m proud to say that I’ve now got 14 people that offered to come along do the zip slide and raise at least £100 each which will go towards my target of raising £1500.

A lovely couple who have followed my campaign and have became online friends with my mum have even offered to come all the way from the Isle of Man and take part because they have been so inspired by what the ‘Shine on Scotland’ campaign has achieved in raising awareness of MS.

http://www.revivescotland.org.uk/get-involved/26-adrenaline-events/276-davidrevivemssupportorguk.html

Should we all be taking vitamin D?

Monday, February 1st, 2010 | Tags: Alzheimer's, cancer research uk, colon cancer, Deputy First Minister, diabets, fortified bread, fortified milk, JK Rowling, kirsten mclaughlin, lung disease, MS Society Scotland, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, Nicola Sturgeon, Oliver Gillie, petitions committee, rheumatoid arthritis, rickets, Ryan McLaughlin, scotland, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland, The Times Online, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign, vitamins
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Dr Mark Porter: Should we all be taking vitamin D?

From The Times

February 1, 2010

New research showing that vitamin D may protect against cancer of the colon is the latest in a long line of studies suggesting that there is far more to this vitamin than its traditional role in helping to maintain healthy bones. And although this new study involved more than 500,000 people from ten different European countries, it is pertinent to the UK because so many of us have low levels of vitamin D — especially at this time of year.

So should more of us be considering supplements?

Vitamin D is required to help the body make proper use of calcium — the basic building block of bones — which is why interest in it has traditionally centred on rickets, a condition that results from severe deficiency. But we now understand that it does far more than maintain the skeleton, and that milder degrees of deficiency may predispose to a range of other illnesses including diabetes, lung disease, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, various cancers, and even Alzheimer’s disease.

The vitamin is manufactured in the skin when we’re exposed to sunlight but our northern latitude and short summers mean that for six months of the year UV levels are so low that most of us don’t make enough of the vitamin to meet basic requirements.

The problem is compounded by the use of sunscreens, which further reduce natural UV exposure during the summer months when vitamin D stores are replenished, and the popularity of supplements containing vitamin A (it is thought that as many as 1 in 5 of the population take one), which antagonise some of the D’s actions.

As well as manufacturing the vitamin in our skin, we also take it in from our diet. It occurs naturally in oily fish, such as tuna and herring, and liver, milk and eggs. In most industrialised countries it is added to margarine, some powdered milks, bread and breakfast cereals.

The scale of the potential problem is nicely outlined by researchers from the University of Sheffield, who looked at vitamin D levels in the cord blood of babies born at the hospital at the end of spring — the time when their mothers’ vitamin D stores were likely to be at their lowest. Seven out of ten of the babies had lower than ideal levels of vitamin D, 90 per cent of whom were white, dispelling the myth that deficiency is principally a problem in ethnic minorities with darker skin (the extra pigment reduces UV penetration even further).

Meanwhile in Finland researchers tracking a group of people born in the Sixties turned up evidence suggesting a link between low levels of vitamin D and Type 1 diabetes later in life. Children brought up in the gloomy winters of Finland are more than a hundred times more likely to develop the condition than their peers in sunny Venezuela. Since then UK research has shown that children given vitamin D supplements are around a third less likely to develop diabetes.

Vitamin D is a steroid and there are receptors on almost every cell in the body. Its link with diabetes could be explained by an action on receptors in the pancreas and on the various cells in the immune system, but there are similar vitamin D specific targets in almost every other organ, including the brain, heart, muscles, kidneys and, of course, the skeleton. Little wonder then that there is growing interest in the role of the vitamin in diseases, ranging from MS to Alzheimer’s.

Should we all be taking a supplement? It’s too early to tell whether mass supplementation is the way forward, but it is now widely agreed that the following key groups are those most likely to benefit:

Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding
Children under 5 (particularly breastfed infants)
The over-fifties
Vegetarians who don’t eat oily fish
Anyone who is housebound or who covers up when outside
Those who are dark-skinned — particularly Asians.

The standard dose for an adult is 10mcg day and trials looking at the safety of long-term supplementation have reported no adverse effects at intakes of more than double that. Much higher doses (50mcg a day or more) can weaken bones and increase the risk of calcium deposits (such as kidney stones) forming elsewhere.

During the summer most people will manufacture enough vitamin D by exposing their face and arms to the sun for an hour across the week. You don’t have to sunbathe, just accumulate around ten minutes of exposure while going about your normal business — assuming you are not wearing a sunscreen, or a moisturiser that contains one.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/expert_advice/article7008426.ece

People born in April most at risk of MS

Monday, January 4th, 2010 | Tags: Colin O'Leary, Deputy First Minister, fortified milk, glasgow, Holyrood, JK Rowling, kirsten mclaughlin, MS, ms news, MS Society Scotland, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, oxford university, Professor George Ebers, Ryan McLaughlin, scotland, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland, southern general hospital, sunshine, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign, vitamins
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New research suggests a link between a lack of sunlight and the disease

By Mark Macaskill

Babies born in April face the highest risk of suffering from multiple sclerosis in later life, according to a ground-breaking study that suggests pregnant mothers’ lack of exposure to sunlight may be to blame.

Scientists found mothers who were pregnant during the autumn and winter were most likely to give birth to those who would suffer from the debilitating neurological disease.

The researchers, based at Glasgow university and the city’s Southern General Hospital, believe the spike in cases among children born in the spring may be due to mothers being exposed to less sunshine at a vital stage in their unborn babies’ development.

Vitamin D, which is largely gained through sunlight and food, is known to regulate a gene that can predispose individuals to MS. If the gene is passed on to the unborn child, without being regulated by a sufficient amount of vitamin D, it could “hard wire” them to develop the disease in later life.

The new study, published in the European Journal of Neurology, is the biggest yet carried out in Scotland, which has the highest rate of MS in the world.

MS affects about 85,000 people in the UK and 10,500 in Scotland. While the cause is not known, experts believe a combination of genetic and environmental factors are responsible for the condition.

The Glasgow researchers examined data on about 1,300 MS patients born in the west of Scotland between 1922 and 1992. They found that about 400 people born in March, April and May went on to develop MS, 22% higher than expected. Almost half of all male and a quarter of female sufferers were born in April.

By comparison, there were about 16% fewer MS births in the autumn months. Those born in November had the lowest incidence of the disease.

Dr Colin O’Leary of the institute of neurological sciences at the Southern General and co-author of the study, said several theories about the condition were being explored.

“It’s a very interesting observation and springtime seems to be a period of relatively high risk,” he said.

“Seasonal risk may be a reflection of adverse events that occurred at the time of birth, in utero in the preceding nine months, or during the months following birth, when the central nervous system continues to undergo rapid development.

“There could be an association between reduced sun exposure and vitamin D levels.” O’Leary now plans to carry out a UK-wide study with scientists in Oxford.

Professor George Ebers, from Oxford university’s department of clinical neurology at the John Radcliffe Hospital, said: “The difference [in developing MS in Scotland] between being born in April versus November is an astounding 50%. This is real, there’s no doubt of a seasonal link. There are different theories, but I think the April excess of births could be linked to a sunlight deficiency.

“The focus is on trying to prove what the environmental effect is and, pending conclusive demonstration of that effect, some people might view it as prudent to conceive at certain times of the year to lower their child’s MS risk if there is a history of the disease in the family.”

Ryan McLaughlin, 14, from Glasgow, whose mother has MS, launched a campaign for all pregnant women and young children in Scotland to be given Vitamin D supplements.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish government, said: “Much of the evidence of a link between vitamin D and MS is still at a very early stage. We will continue to review all well-conducted research across the world. If the recommendations on vitamin D change we’ll make the appropriate arrangements.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6973890.ece

Ryan Mclaughlin launches ‘Fortify Scotland’s school milk’ campaign

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 | Tags: Campaign, child of the year, child of the year award, Clyde 1, community, Daily Record, Deputy First Minister, drumchapel, facebook campaign, fortified milk, glasgow, health campaign, Holyrood, kirsten mclaughlin, Michelle Mone, MS, MS Society Scotland, MSRC, Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis Campaign, nhs scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, Oliver Gillie, petitions committee, Revive MS Support, Ryan McLaughlin, school milk, school milk fortification, scotland, Scottish Parliament, Shine on Scotland, social media campaign, social networking, STV News, Vitamin D, vitamin d campaign, vitamins, wiseman dairies
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Ryan McLaughlin launches ‘Fortify Scotland’s school milk’ campaign

14 year old Ryan McLaughlin of the Shine on Scotland campaign has launched a new social networking campaign to gain public support for his Idea of adding vitamin D to all school milk in Scotland. The 14 year old campaigner believes that vitamin D is so important to improving the health of scottish kids and wants to ascertain how many parents agree with him, using the social platform Facebook.

Ryan is asking scottish parents to join the group and have their say on the subject.

Figures compiled by Oxford University for a national supplementation program of vitamin D in scotland suggest 2000 cases of MS could be prevented over the next 10 years and save the UK economy £4 billion over 25 years.

The World Health Organisation have said that Scotland should start a national supplementation program.

The campaigner says ‘much work still has to be done to get the RDA of vitamin D raised significantly and I will work with the Scottish Government, SACN and the FSA to get that done, but I am positive that fortifying school milk with vitamin D offers the best solution to offering protection to all kids in Scotland’

I am proud to say that the Scottish Government have been amazing in supporting my goals, they have really listened and acted on the current evidence in support of vitamin D, as more evidence is put in place I believe that the case for fortification of school milk will increase, the Scottish government have not ruled out my proposal for fortified school milk they have said “Following advice from the FSA Scotland, the Scottish Government believes that it would not be appropriate to introduce fortified milk (or other fortified drinks) at school until such time as the evidence base is more conclusive about the impact on the population.

However this was said before new research released by the scottish government and the announcement that NHS Scotland said there was now an ‘urgent need to educate women and that all pregnant mothers and all children up to the age of 4 should be taking vitamin D everyday’ .

Now that BUPA have said that they believe vitamin D could prevent cancer and Israel announced all 3% milk is to be fortified I think we need to ask the Scottish Government to look at this again as the evidence is certainly more conclusive and it can only have a healthy impact on the population .

We are now aware that it will cost £2.7 million if every pregnant mother and child takes up the Health Start vitamin’s on offer but what would it cost to fortify the school milk, I think some political will and some help with financial costs to the dairies could see this happen sooner rather than later.

Almost all milk in the US is fortified with vitamin D, Israel has just decided to fortify all 3% milk and we have heard rumors that both France and Ireland are also considering such a move.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=150104079977&ref=nf

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 !

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
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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.”