Vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis

Vitamin D is often talked about as an important vitamin that helps the body stay fit and strong, but it could also help in the fight against multiple sclerosis (MS). While there still needs to be more research into the beneficial effects…

Women with low levels of vitamin D in their blood are more likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life, finds a large-scale study on women in Finland. The study, “25-Hydroxyvitamin D deficiency and risk of MS…

Vitamin D is often talked about as an important vitamin that helps the body stay fit and strong, but it could also help in the fight against multiple sclerosis (MS). While there still needs to be more research into the beneficial effects…

A new study reports that vitamin D supplements do not prevent bone loss in multiple sclerosis patients who are not vitamin-D-deficient. 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. 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 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. “Our results do not support that high dose weekly vitamin D supplementation is beneficial for bone health in ambulatory persons with MS, and suggest that weekly vitamin D supplementation alone is not sufficient to prevent bone loss in persons with MS who are not vitamin D deficient,” the researchers concluded. The results were different from previous studies supporting the beneficial effects of vitamin D supplementation in MS patients. The researchers said they believed the discrepancy was due to differences in the studies' patient characteristics, sample size, and duration of follow-up.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects the nervous system, disrupting messages between the brain and the rest of the body resulting in a range of physical symptoms. Researchers are constantly working to develop more effective treatments, with the hopes…

Vitamin D is often talked about as an important vitamin that helps the body stay fit and strong, but it could also help in the fight against multiple sclerosis (MS). While there still needs to be more research into the beneficial effects…

Despite being relatively well-known, there is often some doubt surrounding the causes of multiple sclerosis. According to the National MS Society, there are various factors which could contribute to someone developing MS. Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disease…

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A study of nearly 600 children with multiple sclerosis reported that genes linked to low vitamin D levels and obesity contribute to the risk of developing MS in childhood. While the two are also risk factors for adult-onset MS, obesity and…

The risk of children developing multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life has no link to how much sunlight their mothers were exposed to during pregnancy, a Polish study found. The study, “Month of birth and level of insolation as risk…