Multiple Sclerosis
Vitamin D And Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – What Recent Researches Are Saying
Evidence in proving that giving vitamin D levels a boost helps treat various types of diseases is still inadequate. This has intrigued scientists for some time, as there is an unmistakable connection between the deficiency of the vitamin and the occurrence of the disease.
Research projects, which are currently being finished underway, aim to answer the mystery. MS or multiple sclerosis, an incapacitating disease, affects more than 350,000 individuals in the US, and it is definitely connected to vitamin deficiency according to multiple studies done from all over the world in the past decade.
Decades of Research Firmly Establishes Link Vitamin D And Multiple Sclerosis
Most patients suffering from multiple sclerosis posses blood levels of the vitamin that are very low. In an analysis done by The Nurses Study, more than 90,000 women in the US for over several years have shown that they have about 50% increased risk in developing the disease due to low levels of vitamin D in the body.
A research, which is geographically based, has provided a demonstration which shows that MS is common in places that are far from the equator. This is because people who love far from the equator have less sun exposure, which is a crucial factor that triggers the body’s ability to produce vitamin D. Tropical areas have still reported multiple sclerosis cases but the incidents were below average as their geographic location provides the best opportunity to acquire exposure from the sun.
Treatment Potential Reflected by Genetic Studies on Animals
Although the link between vitamin deficiency and the disease has already been firmly established, adequate research is still required to determine whether supplemental amounts of the vitamin can be an effective treatment for multiple sclerosis. Studies on animals done by the University of Wisconsin have showed results that can be considered as encouraging. Mice, which have been administered with supplements of the vitamin, have shown no disability after an induction of a disease called experimental encephalomyelitis, which is similar to MS.
Progress of the disease as well as its severity was halted as the vitamin supplements were given to the mice that already had the disease. This occurred on the same study done in the University of Wisconsin.
A recent Canadian study was also able to discover a direct interaction between a certain genetic variant that has been known to increase multiple sclerosis risk and vitamin D. The study done suggests that the lack of the vitamin greatly affects the variant as it triggers the development of typical MS problems occurring in the spinal cord and the brain.
Clinical Trials are Now Underway
Clinical trials for the oral supplementation in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis are still ongoing and are now on the second phase. Researchers expect the results they will acquire will be able to provide them with insights on the efficiency of supplementation in treatment. They also expect information about how much supplementation is needed for successful treatment. Nevertheless, medical experts have reached a consensus that until now final verdict has been made about the long term effects provided by supplementation and no information is still available to provide further clarifications about the connection, patients with MS should still continue to cooperate with their health care providers and discuss their vitamin needs.
Both the care provider and the patient should work together so that a supplementation strategy is determined. The care provider can hold a blood test to assess whether the patient has enough levels of vitamin in his blood and to also determine which supplementations should be provided.
