Vitamin D supplements do not prevent bone loss in multiple sclerosis patients who are not vitamin-D-deficient, a study reports.
The research, published in the journal BMC Neurology, was titled “High dose vitamin D supplementation does not affect biochemical bone markers in multiple sclerosis – a randomized controlled trial.”
Previous research has suggested that low levels of vitamin D increase the risk of a person developing MS. In addition, Vitamin D prevents loss of bone density. That loss can lead to fractures and osteoporosis, a condition that many MS patients experience as their disease progresses.
“Although the role of vitamin D supplementation on disease activity in MS is unclear, several authors have suggested that vitamin D should be monitored to prevent osteoporosis and fractures,” the researchers wrote. There has been “limited evidence on the effect of vitamin D supplementation on bone health in MS,” however, the team wrote.
Researchers decided to investigate the effect of weekly doses of vitamin D3 on patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, versus patients receiving a placebo. All 68 participants in the Phase 4 clinical trial (NCT00785473) also received 500 mg a day of calcium, a compound that is also important for bone health.
The team measured the effectiveness of the supplemental vitamin D by analyzing biomarkers of bone health in blood. These included levels of the proteins PINP, or procollagen type I N propeptide, and CTX1, or C-terminal cross-linking telopeptide.
At the start of the study, levels of PINP and CTX1 were not significantly different between the two groups. And that continued to be true at week 48 and week 96 of the study.
The bottom line was that vitamin D supplementation did not change bone health in patients with MS after 96 weeks.